Career Conundrums & Some Snow

Hello, party people. Apologies I skipped a blog post last week. Honestly, I was cranky and stressed out so I just didn’t do it. It’s probably better for all of us this way.

I’ve been having a mild existential crisis about what I want to do for work. Hence, the truth bomb of a thumbnail photo that I stole from Facebook. Because, naturally, Facebook knows that I’m having a crisis about the fleeting nature of time, work/life balance, and prioritizing the ones you love while also needing to work so you can exist and also sometimes do fun things. Big Brother is always watching.

I’m not so much concerned with finding my perfect job and doing it for 30 years because that’s not really how things work anymore. I do know that I need to leave the horse place but don’t want to make a lateral move too hastily and end up in another situation where I’m underpaid with terrible benefits. Basically, I’m trying to find some semblance of purpose to my life. The horse place in the day-to-day is fine, I guess, but I don’t care about the mission and feel like I could be putting my skills and time to better use by doing something else. I’m just not quite sure what the “something else” is yet.

Work is work at the end of the day, a necessary evil. Ideally, I’d like to find something that I, at the very least, somewhat care about, and am not exploited by my employer in the process. It’s rough out there, y’all. The pandemic really made me reevaluate my priorities in life. Granted, I’m not commuting an hour and a half in traffic each way to work in an insanely toxic environment anymore. However, I’d like to make what I’m worth and have enough flexibility in my schedule and time off to do the things I actually want to do. At this point, I’m definitely willing to leave the nonprofit world to make that happen. I’m not exactly sure what I’d do instead, but I’m only 26, so I have time to try new things and figure it out.

My new job search method is to identify companies that come highly reviewed by their employees, then see if they offer any positions that might be a good fit for me. This has led me down the path of HR, higher education, and state government. I’m also in the very early stages of looking into getting into real estate because why not? I could also work for Northrop, where Ian works, but I think defense contracting is my last resort option at this point. Then again, who knows, maybe I’d like it?

This concludes the story of my ongoing professional woes. The Earth is on fire and everything is going to implode in 10 years anyway, so does any of this really matter? Apologies for the nihilistic overtones here. I’ve been reading the news a bit too much this week ;)

IN OTHER NEWS, Ian and I went on a super pretty hike today. The final destination was supposed to be another high alpine lake called White Pine Lake. There was a pretty decent incline and about nine miles round trip. There wasn’t too much snow or ice on the ground until about mile three. Then, the spikes came out. Best investment ever. They’re these steel spikes that you attach to the bottom of your hiking boots so you can walk on snow or ice without issue. You still have to be careful that you don’t slip and fall, but you can walk normally while you do it rather take taking teeny tiny tiptoe steps.

The snow on the trail was pretty packed down already, which meant that we didn’t sink in when we walked on it because a lot of people had walked on it already. Until mile four, that is. As we got higher up, we saw more and more animal tracks in the snow, and the snow became less and less packed down. We then had to be on high alert for wildlife while also possibly sinking into over a foot of snow with every step. Did I mention the trail at this point was also on a slant and in an avalanche area? We reached a certain point after hiking up another switchback at the 4.5 mile mark where we decided it would be unsafe for us to keep going.

At this point, we had 360 degree views, wet boots, and sore legs. We also ran into a solo hiker who was coming down from where we were supposed to be going up, and he said the rest of the trail was pretty dangerous. We didn’t have gaiters or avalanche safety gear, and were generally tired of going uphill, so we turned around. We passed another man as we got closer to the trailhead who asked us about the snow situation, and he said he had done this one before and was planning on turning around when we did too. We felt pretty validated at that point that we made the right choice. Plus, nine miles and 2,000+ feet of elevation gain in the snow isn’t too shabby anyway.

Please enjoy these photos (and a video!) from the summit.

Hopefully I will have something more positive to report next week about the general trajectory of my professional life. Until then, please bear with me while I try to find my place in the world as it burns (More nihilism again, sorry, that’s just where we’re at on that right now).

Even though I’m being a Negative Nancy, I still love and miss you all!

Talk to you next week!

Red Rock Adventures

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