Not WYSTD Anymore
Let’s see, I can surf ESPN.com again since the possibility exists that Bill Simmons posted something new. I can head out to Taco Bell for some lunch. Or perhaps, the boldest choice is the right call - look up a movie listing on Fandango, slip outta here for a few hours and catch some stupid movie at the multiplex. Such are the choices for the work at home professional.
I never thought that I’d be writing something like that, about the career I currently enjoy, one that I’ve carved out of balsa wood pulp. My professional career, prior to proceeding through a work day in shorts and a t-shirt (stained with Taco Bell hot sauce) was decidedly upwardly mobile, and part of the age-old system I called WYSTD (what you’re supposed to do).
WYSTD (sounds like wasted, which is remarkably apropos) means that you go to the best college you can get into; get the best degree you can, get the best internships you can, and then get the best first job you can. WYSTD means you go to happy hour after work and get blitzed. After you’ve hooked up with enough of the best chicks you can, you cash in and find the best one you can marry.
Once you’re married, you buy the best car you can afford, move out to the best suburbs where you produce the best 1.5 kids, buy the best dog, and take best vacations to the best places where the locals pat you on the back with one hand, while stealing money out of your pocket with the other. You have the best dinner parties with other WYSTDers, talking about who’s got the best of what’s the newest and latest, and how much of the best Riddlin you can give your kids without them slipping into a coma.
After close to ten years of being WYSTED, I rocketed off that career track with a move westward. Not because I wanted to make some huge stand against being part of a nameless faceless corporate mega-monolith, but because I was so entrenched in the WYSTD lifestyle that I didn’t realize how easy I had it. I thought I could move anywhere, get another WYSTD job opportunity, and continue on my merry way. Like when you’re wasted, when you’re WYSTD, perception vs. reality is a battle you don’t realize is over until it’s too late.
I moved to a new city with a resume that I felt was air tight, and explained a WYSTD career that I'd built that would make most people on that same career track green with envy. My confidence was so high, I quit my previous job with absolutely nothing lined up. Another story for another day, but that's not really a good idea.
Anyway, having bills to pay and no WYSTD job meant that I had to tack a decidedly different tack. The new career path I found myself on is called the What the Fuck Am I Going to Do plan, or WTFAIGTD. It’s a much uglier acronym that WYSTD and one that doesn’t have a snappy pronunciation. That’s perfect, since this new life is neither tidy nor easily explained. It’s an existence filled with freelance work for clients that pay your invoices when they feel like it. It’s an existence filled with boundaries set by your own ambition, or lack thereof.
After a longer while that I'd have preferred, the WTFAIGTD career track began to gain some momentum. Bills were paid on time, barely, and enough clients were secured that I had to time to kill again. It was a huge adjustment, and one that I don't think I would have gone through again, had I known what life was like when you weren't WYSTD.
Maybe being WYSTD is the right call, or perhaps some other path is the right one for you. I can't tell anyone what's the right path for themselves, only that where you are and what you're doing is something you should think about a little more.
I never thought that I’d be writing something like that, about the career I currently enjoy, one that I’ve carved out of balsa wood pulp. My professional career, prior to proceeding through a work day in shorts and a t-shirt (stained with Taco Bell hot sauce) was decidedly upwardly mobile, and part of the age-old system I called WYSTD (what you’re supposed to do).
WYSTD (sounds like wasted, which is remarkably apropos) means that you go to the best college you can get into; get the best degree you can, get the best internships you can, and then get the best first job you can. WYSTD means you go to happy hour after work and get blitzed. After you’ve hooked up with enough of the best chicks you can, you cash in and find the best one you can marry.
Once you’re married, you buy the best car you can afford, move out to the best suburbs where you produce the best 1.5 kids, buy the best dog, and take best vacations to the best places where the locals pat you on the back with one hand, while stealing money out of your pocket with the other. You have the best dinner parties with other WYSTDers, talking about who’s got the best of what’s the newest and latest, and how much of the best Riddlin you can give your kids without them slipping into a coma.
After close to ten years of being WYSTED, I rocketed off that career track with a move westward. Not because I wanted to make some huge stand against being part of a nameless faceless corporate mega-monolith, but because I was so entrenched in the WYSTD lifestyle that I didn’t realize how easy I had it. I thought I could move anywhere, get another WYSTD job opportunity, and continue on my merry way. Like when you’re wasted, when you’re WYSTD, perception vs. reality is a battle you don’t realize is over until it’s too late.
I moved to a new city with a resume that I felt was air tight, and explained a WYSTD career that I'd built that would make most people on that same career track green with envy. My confidence was so high, I quit my previous job with absolutely nothing lined up. Another story for another day, but that's not really a good idea.
Anyway, having bills to pay and no WYSTD job meant that I had to tack a decidedly different tack. The new career path I found myself on is called the What the Fuck Am I Going to Do plan, or WTFAIGTD. It’s a much uglier acronym that WYSTD and one that doesn’t have a snappy pronunciation. That’s perfect, since this new life is neither tidy nor easily explained. It’s an existence filled with freelance work for clients that pay your invoices when they feel like it. It’s an existence filled with boundaries set by your own ambition, or lack thereof.
After a longer while that I'd have preferred, the WTFAIGTD career track began to gain some momentum. Bills were paid on time, barely, and enough clients were secured that I had to time to kill again. It was a huge adjustment, and one that I don't think I would have gone through again, had I known what life was like when you weren't WYSTD.
Maybe being WYSTD is the right call, or perhaps some other path is the right one for you. I can't tell anyone what's the right path for themselves, only that where you are and what you're doing is something you should think about a little more.
posted by Anonymous at 4:55 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home