I’ve had plenty of part-time and full-time jobs over the years – customer service, data entry, philanthropy, camp management and more. But this past summer was the first time I worked an 8 to 5 desk job in a cubicle all day. And while it was a fantastic opportunity that I couldn’t be more grateful for, the experience made me reflect in a way I hadn’t anticipated.
Firstly, I’d like to acknowledge that I wouldn’t have traded my internship this summer for the world. I had the opportunity to work in the largest safety net hospital in my home county, as well as in their executive offices. And as a public health major, I truly couldn’t have asked for anything better. I met the most amazing people, broadened my horizons, honed in on a vast array of new skills, and truly solidified that public health is the field I want to be in. I found the work extremely meaningful, impactful, important and interesting. However, sitting in that cubicle all summer killed my joy.
Working all day in an office with no windows really made me appreciate my college life at UCLA and how much I love it here. Prior to this summer, thoughts of how I should make my next career move, feelings of being “behind” everyone else, and an obsessive compulsion to be busy all the time flooded my mind constantly. But after this summer, I’ve decided to place an intentional emphasis on slowing down and just enjoying college; I have the rest of my life to worry about a career.
And don’t get me wrong, I’m still working my campus job, another internship, involved in multiple campus orgs and making plans for post-grad (those of which absolutely do not include a cubicle for at least another five years; but that’s a story for another article). This summer was just a bittersweet reminder that this is my last year of college – the last time I’ll be living in a cramped apartment with six of my best friends, the last time I can make all the spontaneous and poorly thought out decisions I want without real consequences, the last time Tuesdays can be synonymous with weekends, the last football tailgates, and the last year I have before entering the real-adult world.
So, in this final year, I want to say yes – to everything. That means rallying to the Rose Bowl even hungover and on four hours of sleep. That means staying up until the early hours of the morning gabbing about absolutely nothing with my roommates on our couch. That means wearing my favorite fun outfits to class instead of saving them for a “special occasion.” And most of all, it just means soaking it all up.