Is This Thing On?

*Dusts off the keyboard*

Greetings again, dear reader! As Smashmouth once said, “the years start comin’ and they don’t stop comin”. I would say true, but same with the days.

The less we do things, the worse we are; the worse we are, the less we want to do them. It’s hard to pick up the phone and call a friend when there’s no good news to report — hell, it’s been really hard for me to do that. I’ve been rejected by jobs for the past seven months and it’s taking up all of my brainpower — health insurance, unemployment, applying to jobs, networking, and trying to assuage the fact that I should be doing something with this time.

I should have already mastered French, read 2 books a week, finished the needlepoint pillow I started in March 2020, learned to cook a few extravagant dishes, gotten a six-pack, and deep-cleaned my whole house. I should have a rock solid daily routine that involves a three-step pour-over coffee, morning pages, 1.5-mile walk, followed by a workout. Heck — Buck (my 10-year-old Lab) should be down 10 pounds and learned at least 7 new tricks. I feel like I’ve wasted this time. 

I’ve had to put on a brave face more than once when someone has told me “how lucky” I am to have this time to figure out what I want to do. Yes, I’m incredibly lucky to have supported myself, but there’s also the nagging voice that I should be traveling the world and finding myself or using this time to do something that deviates from the career norm. While some would say it’s foolish to bank on the future, there is always time in the future to take a good sabbatical and actively plan for a career break, rather than be thrust into one.

Something I have to remind myself to do is calculate a quick break-even equation in my head. Yes, would it be awesome to be backpacking around Europe without attachment or care in the world? Yes. But going a step further, that would require not having Buck, not riding horses, not getting back into the job market, or being in a relationship. All of these risks could be mitigated, but they’re not tradeoffs I’m willing to make. And that’s ok. I’m beyond blessed to have these non-career pieces of my life, and it’s ok to create my own ideal job break for myself, however it may look. Onward!

Quick Hits:

• For Goodness Sake, Do Not Use Your Credit Card With Venmo

  • TLDR: Chase now charges a 4% fee + Venmo’s 3% fee for using a credit card, with a $5 minimum per transaction. It’s also charged as a cash advance, so interest begins accruing immediately at Chase’s cash advance rate, which normally hovers around ~25%

• Shrimp is Bugs

  • Congrats to this man who came looking for advice in all the wrong places

• Ali Rohde Jobs

  • Looking for a Chief of Staff, BizOps, or VC role? Look no further.

• AITA for choosing lobster over my child?

  • A late-night zoomie sesh recalled this amazing AITA that involves lobster fishing, a roommate, the mother of his child, a girlfriend he is not in love with, AND a meat slicer. Nothing is more important than the meat slicer that will take 2 years to pay off, although my quick calcs tell me that it will take far less time.

Hack Du Jour:

If you liked this piece, please subscribe! If you didn’t, please send to an enemy.