Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Yes And, But!

Roasted garlic hummus enthusiast, thrift store jungle junkie, and "Rock, paper, scissors solves all problems from Obama healthcare to who gets that last slice of Hawaiian pizza"decision-maker.

These are the the titles I wish my "Resume-Building Consultant", Cory, had taken seriously yesterday as we sat in her Ikea-furnished, closet of an office in the Career Center. In addition, I wishfully hoped these thoroughly developed, self-awarded labels would fly at the Career Fair today but, let's all be honest, the business world is not nearly progressive enough for the likes of "Rock, paper, scissor" decision-making. It's far too New Age.

Alas, I went with more professional, albeit phony, descriptions like "Team Builder" and "You Can Always Count on this By-The-Book, Truth Teller". Cory was impressed so I took my leave from her office, making sure to not get up too quickly, lest the Ikea chair beneath me shatter into tiny toothpicks (I swear I'm not this high-brow! To be real, I shop at Ikea for all my furniture and fake-plant needs too)

As I proceeded to pick out my attire for the Career Fair last night in my clothing swampland (Similar to Gypsy's) I noticed my honey badger body start to slow in movement. First my legs, then my arms, to the point where I felt like I was moving in honey.  Could it be ready to sleep already? Hurry, jump in bed quick, it's time! But as I frantically scrambled into my memory-foam futon (I'm fancy, huh?) I realized it was not sleep honey badger was communicating. Rather, it was disinterest. The only reason I was going through with these pain-in-the-ass meetings with Ikea Cory, and picking out fancy clothes from the swampland was to get an internship with a company I didn't really care about. I was just drawn by the fact that they're based in NYC which isn't, my honey badger body let me realize, a good enough reason.

So, although I was trying to "Yes And" with Ikea Cory, the internship process, and my desire to be in the Big Apple, I was ignoring how I felt towards the key point: The actual internship (language translation for business). Don't get me wrong, I love language, but I don't want to make a job out of it. So, thanks to the honey badger,  I didn't waste time applying.

This brought me to an epiphany about the "Yes And" ideology: "Yes But". Yes, I want an internship. Yes, NYC. Yes, experience, travel, garlic roasted hummus. But sometimes when adding your own jazzy spin to an idea you go in a direction that sheds layers of the orignal idea and requires one itsy-bitsy word, the "but". With the "Yes And" ideology culminating in a world of improvisation, evolution, and "on your feet", "anything goes" rapid change, the "Yes But" seems to fit in just right.

1 comment:

  1. Nooooo....I see your point and good on you...but stick with "yes and", not "yes but".
    IE. "Yes", I now understand about this career day better "and" I resolve to seek out what I really want to do, as life is always about choices!

    ReplyDelete