Thursday, August 24, 2006

Baby, Meet Bathwater.

When I was enrolled at Washington University, and not that happy about it, I apparently acted like I was going there for the rest of my life. I made it into kind of a disaster mentally; then I went to St. Louis, made the best of it and got good grades; applied to Penn and transferred after my freshman year.

My mom often raises this as an example of how I tend to be a tad hyperbolic in my view of things, a trait very much in evidence in yesterday's post. It's true that I need a change, and it's true that I don't like sitting around all day. But of course I could focus on finding a better environment instead of uniformly rejecting all forms of office work.

It might seem advisable to temper my disaster-style thinking, except that it's served me well on occasion. It got me out of one school and into another that I loved, and it got me finally to leave New York and go back to D.C., where I was very happy to be (and where my office really was kind of nice). Discontent can be useful, on occasion. So we'll see where it pushes me next.

2 comments :

  1. Anonymous4:46 PM

    i read on lifehacker that you aren't supposed to post on blogs unless you have something relevant to say. isn't that stupid?

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  2. There's a thin line between a useful form of disaster mentality and one that is counter productive. I'll agree with you that at the right times, it does indeed motivate you to get out of problem situation and places, however, most situations and places do not fall into that category. Instead, re-evaluation may be necessary, but if something doesn't ultimately work out, it isn't a disaster, really. You wouldn't know that if you hadn't tried it in the first place.

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