One Year Later...

As I talked about last time, it has been a year since I graduated from college. This was something that also occurred to me when I had my birthday last month. Having survived a year out of college, a lot of people of would be celebrating and saying, “Woohoo I’m still alive” but not necessarily me.

On my birthday, I started reflecting on what I had accomplished in the year since I had graduated. Job-wise, not a whole lot. I mean, I am on a few eligibility lists for police departments, but nothing has progressed any farther in the testing process than interviews. This is frustrating for a number of reasons. Firstly, there’s the fact that I have to go through the same process with every department. Now, this isn’t so bad in regard to the physical test because it motivates me to stay in shape and pushes me to best my time on the 1.5 mile run. But with the written test, it can make me a little stir crazy. I start thinking, “Is this the answer I had last time? Or is it that?” Luckily, some towns will test together with other towns, meaning that you can test for a bunch of towns and only have to go through it once. I plan on doing that later this summer for some north suburbs. Secondly, this can be very frustrating because it is such a long process, with a written test, physical test, interview (group, you with a panel, or both) polygraph, psychological evaluation, drug test, and physical exam. While I understand that all these tests are designed to weed out those who should not be police officers, the length of time that these take place over is not fixed. Usually the first two or three are within a few weeks of the application deadline, but then the towns wait until they are actually ready to hire someone before proceeding any farther. Since the eligibility lists are good for two years, this can take place at any time over the next two years. It’s frustrating because I feel like I’m putting my life on hold for something that’s not even certain right now.

Now I know what you’re going to say next. You’re going to say, “Well, have you looked for a job, at least part-time, anywhere else?” Yes, I have. I’ve applied at a security company, and several local places. For the local places, I’m way over-qualified (or at least that’s what I’m assuming since I’ve never had any follow-up from them), and the security company said that they would keep me in mind (Is that just a nice way of saying that they don’t want me?) for part-time positions as they open.

Health-wise, I would say that I have accomplished a lot in the past year. (Isn’t that right, Donna? ;-D) Not only did I run my first 5k race on Thanksgiving, but I ran the Home Team Charity Run 10k back at the beginning of April, and another 5k two Saturdays ago. I spend a good hour and a half to two hours at the gym six times a week, working on my cardiovascular endurance and strength training. I’ve lost about 15 pounds in the past year, and while I wish that it would be more I also realize that I have also gained a fair amount of muscle, which we all know weighs more than fat. When I was working with a trainer, I was on a pretty strict diet that often drove me (and my family by extension) crazy. I’ve kind of adapted that to make it more livable for me, so that now it is more of a lifestyle change/healthier eating habits than an outright diet. I don’t deny myself sweets/treats, but then again I don’t eat them every day. Looking back at where I was health-wise when I first joined my gym a little less than two years ago, I have definitely come a long way. Back then, I was working on run 1/1.5 miles. Now, I can run 6+ miles, and will often go for an afternoon/early evening run if it is nice outside (in addition to what I have done that morning at the gym - somewhere between 3.5 and 6 miles).

Now, all that being said, I do fell pretty purposeless at times. I mean, I have my little schedule, (get up, listen to WTMX’s morning show, workout, shower, and lunch) but it seems pretty lame even to me, and other than that stuff I don’t do much most days.

This past fall, when all of my friends still in college were going back, I definitely started to get frustrated. At that point, I had thought that I would at least have something, if only some kind of part-time job. This winter was pretty rough on me. I might have even gone through a bit of depression (depression-lite?) where, if it had been for the fact that I wasn’t getting out of the house for my daily workouts, I would have had some problems. I’m not sure if the cruddy weather contributed to or caused it, but it seemed to mostly go away once it started to get warmer.

And now that it is graduation time, things are feeling odd all over again. Most of my friends from college graduated a week and a half ago, as is my sister this weekend. It’s a bit like “They’ve all been in classes this past year, accomplishing things, and what have I done?” I doubt that I’ll completely get over these feelings until I get farther in the testing process with a department and actually get hired, or get a part-time job.

I read a number of websites geared toward college-age women, and all of them have articles with advice about interviewing/job hunting fairly regularly. I find it hard to read these a little hard to read because 95% of the things they are saying don’t apply to me. I mean, a lot of the interviewing tips help, but other than that nothing else really does. It’s probably because the hiring process for police departments is so structured and regulated, but most of these things like creating an online presence, using Twitter and other social media, etc. apply to just about any career other than law enforcement.

I realize that I’ve sort of gone in a circle with this post, but that’s kind of how it is with me. I definitely have days when I’m feeling good and others when feel like I’m accomplishing nothing. I’m sure that this is something that a lot of new grads go through, but I don’t really consider myself a “new” grad anymore. I also find it pretty hard when a lot of my friends who graduated last year, or even this year, already have jobs. But it is what it is, and I’m just trying to do the best I can.

Jumping In

Hello all! Welcome to my little corner of the blogging world. I thought that, with this being my first post and all, I would take the opportunity to explain what you can expect from me here and the like.

My main motivation behind creating this blog is so that I have a space to vent and get out my thoughts. This is about the journey that I am on right now, which is my transition into adulthood. I’m not exactly sure when I’ll consider myself an adult or when that will happen, but I promise to bring you along with me. This is a work in progress, as is my life, and haven’t completely decided if I’ll keep the same blog title, but the address will still be the same. I’m not exactly a computer expert, so I will most likely be learning to do more things with this as I go.

I don’t know exactly how often I will be posting, but I am going to strive for at least once a week. It might be a little more often at the beginning since I’ve got all sorts of things bouncing around in my head right now.

An anniversary of sorts passed for me this last week. As of Sunday, it has been one year since I graduated from Western. It’s certainly been an interesting year, but to hear more, you’ll have to stay tuned!

I hope that this was a good introductory post. Since this is a work in progress, I both welcome and encourage your feedback.