With my last day at Greenwood Commonwealth on Friday, I’ve been trying to look at things with a silver lining.
When you start out in a career field, there are ups and downs, stops and starts. It’s the one thing college doesn’t prepare you for, let me tell you.
College is meant to prepare you for the world ahead and the big question of “What’s next?” It’s a little hazy on the DIY instructions, and your education only takes you so far.
So when you get a job, whether it’s a first or next situation, it’s always new and exciting right out of the box. Then reality sets in, and you realize you may be out of your element.
However, it’s people like those in this community who make finding your element so much fun, at least in my field.
As journalists, we are used to being observers, but in the South that’s not an option. You join in, or you go home.
People here welcomed me with open arms. They opened their doors for me on holidays, their lives to me for stories and their friendship for life.
To me, this 90-day crash course in the South has felt like a new, New Zealand experience. Let me tell you, that is ranking Greenwood pretty darn high.
By “a new, New Zealand experience,” I mean I don’t want to leave. I found my stride, and I found a place here. The culture, the idiosyncrasies that I documented in this column, all of it, I wouldn’t trade for the world.
With this column, I tried to bring a little of the North to the South. I tried to show what was different and what was the same. Not because one is better but because if I found it neat, someone else might, too.
Please know that these differences make me love it here that much more (minus slow drivers). If I had wanted to live in the North or stay in an area with the same idiosyncrasies, I would have. I moved south for a reason. I moved for a new experience and a new adventure. I moved because I live for differences like these.
I can’t thank enough the people I’ve met through work or through social networking — those I’ve interviewed, worked with and played with, the ones who suggested places to visit or took me themselves. I consider them friends.
The only advice I can give you, when you are thinking of “What’s next?” is to look for communities like this one. Find the ones that want to share their story, and share their town with you. Then stay in touch when you leave!
Whether you keep the job or leave it, get fired or are laid off, it’s all part of the career path. It’s what you do there — however long a time — that determines if you sink or swim.
Now it is my turn to find my next sink-or-swim experience — and, thanks to Greenwood, I hope to have in the South.
•Contact Laura Kay Prosser at 581-7233 or lprosser@gwcommonwealth.com.
