The Lion's Pride Volume 9 (January 2018) | Page 25

experience and it would frustrate me because I climbed up from the very
bottom but they already had all the skills I did, plus some.
This led to my decision to enroll in school and to leave my career. I’d
earn my associates degree and I could come back to work in a similar
field and be like those who were direct hires from college. Then, I would
feel complete. But, after attending college for several weeks, I ran into a
financial issue with my tuition and had to withdraw. I was distraught.
What would be my next steps? How could I be successful? If I were to
work for an administrative company that was smaller in size I could use
my large skills from my previous employer to shine, and that’s what I
did. It worked, for a short time. The problem still occurred that after all
this investment of my own development that I wasn’t satisfied with
where I was. If I wasn’t satisfied after all my hard work, then what was
it that I really wanted?
Thus started my search for self-discovery. First, it started with
changing what genre of music I listened to, followed by subscribing to
different perspectives of news, reaching for more books to read, and
experimenting with self-learning programs. After relocating to Seattle
from the Midwest it was clear that those in the area had high levels of
education, engaged in deep intellectual conversations, and were
experienced travelers, and that really put me on my toes. Unsure of
what kind of career field I wanted to join, I humbled myself and applied
for a barista position. Learning about and how to make coffee interested