Worth it?

Nope, it was not worth it.

I’m 25, now.

My old Tumblr bio!:

Deeply Superficial…Superficially Deep I watch Gossip Girl and probably own a menagerie’s worth of shoes. I like oatmeal and lentils, though not together. Karl Marx is probably one of my favorite reads, but you’ll find Star magazines properly situated next to the toilet in my apartment. I’ll have a master’s degree under my belt at the age of 22. It’s both revitalizing and heartbreaking to understand the pedagogical difficulties when Maslow’s hierarchy of needs has several voids in it.

If you ask me what my plans are, or invite me to do something this summer, I’ll respond with, “ideally, I’ll be out of the country.” 

I created this Tumblr when I was in the throes of contemplation, sitting in my apartment, and about to finish grad school. The world seemed incredibly open and, in that same vein, I was incredibly directionless. In the span of three months, I had taken the first steps in solidifying the future as I’d known it to be for the next few months: I researched ad nauseum and applied for the Peace Corps, then Teach for America (actually meeting with the recruitment director who was about to process me in), and then, with the blessing of my parents, I chose to teach in China instead. Phone interview already done, I was spending the summer working and taking Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) lessons.

Two years later and nothing is the same: I’m more rooted in New York City than I’ve ever been: I’m doing research, grant writing, and advocacy for a non-profit, I’m a mentor to a 8-year old girl through Big Brothers Big Sisters of NYC, and I’m teaching a freshman class on (yup, New York City and sociology) at my old university. 

I have a much clearer idea of who my friends are and what my values are. And more importantly, I’m totally embracing life as a journey, rather than a destination. (Or in my case 2 years ago, an escape :p)