Guest Post// Anything or Everything

Hello! Today’s guest post comes from Dani who blogs at The Postcard Journals. She just graduated from a small university in Georgia where she was a Zeta (yayyy for being Zeta sisters). She is now teaching English in Luang Prabang, Laos. I greatly admire this girl’s brave and adventurous spirit.  Today Dani talks about the post-grad struggle that I definitely relate to. Enjoy!

“You can do anything, but not everything” –David Allen

I hate this quote. I hate this quote because of how truthful it is. Both in high school and in college I was that girl who was involved in everything, and I mean everything. I did everything from French club to soccer to yearbook in high school and from Greek life to community service projects to a part time job in college. Not only was I involved in many different organizations but I often served on exec councils and leadership teams. I didn’t participate in all these clubs because I wanted a good resume, but truthfully it was because I genuinely want to be part of everything. I have FOMO and I have it bad. I don’t want to miss out on anything or any opportunity. I studied abroad twice in college because I didn’t want to miss out an adventure.

Recently Skylar posted about being stuck in those in-between stages of life, and I could not relate to this more. As a fellow twenty-two year old (and ZTA sister! -not really relevant but a very important need to know fact) I am feeling the effects of lots of change and trying to figure out which direction I’m going. I graduated from my small town university in December 2013 and spent the next six months preparing to move to Laos for a year. When I first heard about the opportunity to teach in Asia I do what I always do and jumped at it. And as I also tend to do I didn’t put much thought into it other than “this sounds like something I would like and could do!” So I spent those next six months between graduation and my departure in a sort of unsettled limbo state. All my friends were still in college and knowing that I would be leaving soon made it hard to feel settled anywhere. I was stuck in a state of impermanence. 

To be real I am still stuck in a state of impermanence. I am in the final stretch of my year abroad and once again I find myself caught in that in-between stage. Do I go home, do I stay in Laos, or do I try somewhere new? Decision making has never been my strong suit and choosing what I will do after this year is a huge deal. Just like in school there are so many things I want to do, so many things that I want to be involved in that I can’t make up my mind which one I should go for. And let’s not forget the fear of failure and that none of these plans will work out for me as well as the pressure from others to do certain things. 

In less than a month I will be twenty-three and I’m not sure how I feel about it. I don’t mind getting older, it’s more the thought of “man I’m turning twenty-three shouldn’t I have my life figured out by now?” I mean I do have ideas, I have goals and aspirations, but some of my plans conflict with one another. I love, Laos but there are also many other places I want to go and opportunities that I want to take but wouldn’t be able to if I stay. Do you see my dilemma? And it’s not just Laos. There are many things I want in life and I’m not sure if I can have or do them all. So how does a girl choose? How does a girl get out of that in-between stage and start figuring out her life? How does she decide what is most important and what she is willing to let go? If I figure it out, I’ll let you know. 

-Dani

Be sure to heck out Dani’s blog where she documents her experiences in Laos!

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