The Rise and Fall of the “Perfect” Plan

 It has been almost two years since I graduated from Central Michigan University and in the last year and a half it seems like with every “life” decision that I try to make it leads me to one step forward two steps back.

Let me give you a little background on my life. I have always been a “planner” I like to know what I am going to do and when I am going to do it all the time. I prefer to stick to the plan that has been put in place as much as possible some say it is a control problem but I call it being prepared 

After high school was over I went to CMU and LOVED IT! Being the planner that I am I made up my mind at the wise age of 18 that I was going to get my undergraduate degree in Psychology so that I could become a School Counselor and that was the path that I followed all four years of college until EVERYTHING changed!

After graduation I moved back home with my parents. Everything was different for me I went from living with my best friends and seeing them all the time to never seeing them as they all moved to various areas to pursue careers and additional education which meant I only saw them occasionally.

The roommates & I

I had to figure out how I fit back in to the family dynamic at home..... But I tried to keep focus because I was following the plan that I had set in motion four years ago. I had started pursuing my own master’s degree in Counseling. Everything was going according to plan…. At least I thought so.

After I moved I started working for a credit union as a teller. You would be surprised how open people are about their financial issues to a bank teller, I heard stories that I would never dream of telling others if I was in their positions. This started making me think about the profession that I had chosen to pursue. If I questioned why people were telling me their personal secrets and felt uncomfortable about it how was I going to cut it as a counselor?

Lets just say I wasn’t a teller for long as I quickly moved into the Public Relations & Community Involvement Department.  I quickly fell in love with this job I actually enjoyed coming to work.  

After just a couple of months working in this department I decided that counseling was not the career choice for me and I had to make a tough decision to change the plan. I felt lost…. How can something that you have been planning for what seems like forever not be the right thing? But then again how do you really know what you want to be when you “grow-up” at the age of 18? 

I decided to take the summer off from school to give myself some time to think and evaluate what I was going to do. It was during this time and though many different consultations with different people whom I respected in my life I decided that I was going to get my MBA and try to make a career out of public relations and community involvement something I already knew I enjoyed doing.

Now that is where I am.  Not totally lost but still struggling with all of the various bumps in the road that I seem to keep encountering.

It seems for now I am simply living in a limbo state of life until I reach the next stage...