whoops

My New Years Resolution was to blog more.

Well, it's 20 days later and what have I done? Nothing.

Sorry about that.

My life as of late hasn't been that exciting with the exception of me being in the thick of marathon training at this point. I ran ~12 miles yesterday and 11.6 on Sunday because I've been wanting to switch my long run day so I really upped my mileage this week. Needless to say, I took two ice baths this week.

You may think I'm crazy for getting in a bathtub with 20 pounds of ice floating in freezing water. I kind of am a little crazy... but at least I wasn't in the water as long as Leonardo DiCaprio in Titanic. 20 minutes tops in the tub. I'm that loony person that gets in wearing two pairs of compression pants, socks, a winter hat, and a sweatshirt. Sunday I brought a mug of coffee in with me to keep me warm and happy - yesterday I just took my Kindle in and was extra careful not to drop it. (One of these posts will end up with me freaking because I short circuited my Kindle in the tub.)

When you're at work 9 hours a day and your commute's at least 45 minutes in each direction, it makes it hard to... well, it makes it hard to have a life. But no worries - I'm planning several trips and am going to start working out in the morning before work (THE HORROR) so I can do more things after work...like learn how to brew my own beer.

I will be blogging more. Way more. I have a life to live/chronicle and I'd love to share my adventures with you all. I'm always looking for inspiration and I hope that you all (whoever you are) can inspire me to be a better, way more awesome person.

Well, let's get to it!

on perseverance.

Perseverance is a difficult thing to hold onto. 

One word: duh. (Does "duh" count as a word? It's my blog, it counts.)

The dictionary tells me that perseverance is: "steady persistence in a course of action, a purpose, a state,etc., especially in spite of difficulties, obstacles, or discouragement."

Lately, I've been looking for jobs. And by lately, I mean... for the last fourteen months*, I've been looking for a job. I'll set the scene for y'all: I graduated with a business degree in 2011 and ended up as a secretary for an insurance company in Boston a month after I received by diploma. 

Hey, whatever, it was a job...was what I told myself. 
Hey, not a big deal, this will be temporary...was what I told myself.
Hey, I've got student loans up the wazoo, this will be fine for the time being...was what I told myself.

I'm still pretty surprised at my ability to convince myself it was all going to be okay. After all, I'm the kind of person that doesn't settle (in fact, I abhor settling) and yet this was what I was doing with the first job I was offered post-graduation. So for the last fourteen months after I signed my contract, I looked for jobs.

and looked.
and looked.
and interviewed.
and looked.

You get the idea. It was a constant grind - of making it through two-plus rounds of interviews, of shaking hands, of ironing suits, of investigating executives and companies online. Some interviews I failed miserably after discovering I was in over my head. Some weren't in my field of interest, and some jobs I was enthusiastic about I either didn't hear from the company ever again or was told "we went with someone with more experience".

Or, as one VP told me, "always the bridesmaid, never the bride, huh?"

I could have stayed stagnant, could have stayed mildly complacent in the job I was in - just invoicing, billing, filing, not really doing things of density. But no - I wanted more, something I woke up to, Monday to Friday, eagerly anticipating the challenges that lay before me for the day. So I kept applying.

I can't say that I wasn't discouraged after several denials - and they all made sense. If you have two people that interview well, have the same aspirations and similar personalities... but one has three years of experience and the other is a recent graduate? Well, you get the idea. Shocking, breaking news: this economy sucks.

There's been a lot of tears, a lot of unanswered questions, and far too many stress pimples, but as of last Friday, I was offered a position as an undisclosed company's Assistant Marketing Manager, nearly 45 miles each way from my home. The job entails social media, blogging, increasing customer awareness, and brand repositioning. I don't know which one is better: that I now have my "big break" into brand management, or that tomorrow I get to put my two weeks notice in to a job I haven't loved since the get-go.

Moral of the story: don't give up. Are you unhappy with the way things are going? You may falter, you may fail, but the only way that you'll actually succeed is if you never, ever give up.

Perseverance, my friends. It did a lot for me; what can it do for you?

*For the sake of making longer stories shorter, I cut out both semesters of my senior year of college that I spent looking for jobs that I could start post-grad. My job search that I'm referring to here is entirely post-diploma.

obligatory first post

Hi there, reader.

I'd tell you what you should expect here, but I honestly can't tell you what you can expect. Here, I hope you'll find everything you're looking for: recipes, beer reviews, my adventures, reflections on life, and lessons learned along the way.

So, a little about me:

I'm a 22 year old living just outside of Boston, trying to figure out what I want from life (job, relationships, friendships, etc). It's a big, messy world out there, and I'm just trying to make sense of it.

Welcome, and buckle up; from what I've witnessed so far, life isn't always a smooth ride, but it's a crazy, awesome one.