Well, then. For those of you who haven't heard, because I haven't yet tackled you with my news or you haven't happened to pass by the particular mountaintop from which I've been shouting, in reference to my last two entries in this particular blog about change, I am now able to positively report: YOU ARE LOOKING AT HOLSTEE'S NEW COMMUNITY LOVE INTERN.
First things first: how did this happen?!
This past Christmas, in addition to many other thoughtful gifts, two of which brought a literal tear to my eye, cute Colin gave me a poster (now in a gold frame hanging at the very center of the wall I'm currently facing) that contained the profoundly perfect words of the Holstee Manifestio. Which are:
I'm an avid reader. I have been my entire life. In fact, somewhere buried in our family photo albums, you will find a picture of a three-year-old me attempting to read a book to my father, who is asleep on the couch beside me. Despite this early introduction to the written word, I can confidently say that no passage has ever moved me in the quite the same way as this Manifesto. It is honest. It is TRUE. It is, as they describe life to be, simple. And that's that.
Since December I had then been intrigued by Holstee as a whole, as a company, as a mission, as, in a way, a lifestyle. Seeing that poster every morning when I woke up was a constant reminder of what I wanted my life to look like and, more or less, how to do it.
I found out more about Holstee's beginning, their goals, their positive impacts (all of which you can, and should!, read more about here). I liked the things I was discovering about this newer company, I respected the ambition behind its foundation and the commitment to their original purpose. All in all, when I tried to imagine myself being a part of a place or a company I am proud to associate with, when I think about using my gifts and interests for a reason, when I hoped to find an avenue that excited me, Holstee fit the bill. No matter where else that revelation took me, it was encouraging to know: there is something out there for me, too.
And so, when I discovered (via Twitter, bless its little tweeting heart) that Holstee was on the hunt for an intern (an intern that, quite magically, did not have to be a current college student, bless them as well), I instantly decided that, with all the other stabs in the dark I was taking in terms of finding work, this was finally an opportunity I felt confident about trying for, one I felt incited to learn from, one that kept me checking my phone and email for a response.
After two weeks, two phone calls, and one successful visit to the Big Apple (do I have to start calling it that now?), Holstee has graciously brought me on board to their intimate team, all the members I have met so far being both welcoming and down to earth, their conversation and questions being all humbling, thought-provoking, and inspiring.
As most of you know, this has been one hell of a journey, this post-graduate life. It is nothing like I thought it would be, not in any way at all, and that realization has been both a relief and a head-on collision. I've been on this road, ever winding, since 2009 (ironically the year that Holstee got off the ground) and I can safely say that I have learned more about myself and the person I want to be in these three years of floundering than I have in all my years of education combined. And, if I were to make a solid guess, I would say that portion of this pilgrimage, the one where I continue to guide myself as I go, doesn't quite end here, if it in fact ends anywhere at all.
I'm at the end of something while I am simultaneously standing on the edge of another beginning, a new field of newness, an opportunity for change. For a moment, I have to wonder if all of this, this sudden commencement, brings me to the altogether abrupt end of this particular blog, of this sense of musing over what's to come. Is this next step a part of the whole or does the road, though only this leg of it, end here?
As I have said, through this experience, at the highest and lowest points of it, I have learned an astonishing amount about myself, about all of us. One of the the largest and most potent being that we are constantly being reborn, constantly challenged, given the option to stay or go, fight or flee, grow or stubbornly remain the same. We're never through with learning about ourselves and our world and how those two phenomena (exactly) are meant to intermix, what we've ended up here to do, what our motivations and responsibilities contain. It's a lifelong expedition, one that brings us equally to both joy and weariness, and that is nothing if not pure hope for us all.
After all, as Holstee would have us remember, "This is your LIFE." Something entirely your gift and entirely your burden, something to be cherished and welcomed with extreme gratitude. Taking these exact sentiments in going forward with this new opportunity, it is safe to say that change comes with persistence, with patience, with the ever holding on when the rope rapidly frays beneath your grip. And, now what? Keep holding, keep moving on. Because this is going to be good.
More to come.
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