Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Answers... Well, Not Really

I've linked to and written about Penelope Trunk before.  Hers was the first blog I started reading with any regularity and its the honest to goodness inspiration for this here ranting and raving.  But anywhooooo, I think she's brilliant.  A little mislead at times (she definitely wouldn't approve of my MBA because it's not from a Top 10 school), but brilliant. (Another side note, it was her blog that introduced me to the Pioneer Woman.)  Penelope has the audacity to write about career advice when she is not even the CEO of her own start-up, but it's her lack of convention that is usually at least thought provoking when everyone else sounds like a broken record. 

Today, she wrote a blog post that again goes against my usual way of thinking.  As we all know, I seem to be struggling a little bit lately with the question of where on earth this MBA is taking me.  Literally.  Do I pursue jobs in Chicago (possibly even Charlotte) to be closer to my family and settle down or do I make the best of what I've worked so hard to build here in LA???  Well, Penelope would say that I need to pick something and stick to it.

Now that's usually my train of thought as well. When I first moved out to LA, I knew it was wasn't going to be temporary.  I don't do anything temporarily.  What's the point?!  If I'm going to do something, anything, I'm going to put my heart into it and try and make it the best experience possible.  I'm a fervent believer in making the best out of any situation, but I also think we should know when to quit and walk away.

I've found myself in the situation of waiting and being blindly loyal one too many times. In relationships, at work, with my family.  So I've unfortunately turned into a person who cuts the cord first.  I'm the first to run away before I can get hurt.  And oddly enough, it doesn't work.  In fact, that itself is the reason for a lot of the pain in my life so I'm definitely working on letting myself be more open.  And trying not to run away so quickly. 

And while the job will ultimately determine where I go (they're not exactly plentiful at the moment), I'm pretty set on moving to the Midwest when this is all over.  I'd stay in LA for two extenuating circumstances; neither of which are looking overly likely.  That being said, I can and will change my mind tomorrow.  Penelope Trunk be damned, I will go where my gut tells me to.  I've followed my instincts thus far and while in my weakest moments I'm convinced they're flawed, I know better. 

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