I have been living at home for a year now, and the level of stimulation that you had in college is no longer there. Most of my friends have moved out of the state, and I have made new ones, but I find myself longing to once again travel and have new adventures.

When you have lived in one place for most of your life, you still have your ties to the area and its infrastructure, but once you’ve stepped out, you grow more and more curious about what’s out there. What sailors call cabin fever, I call Connecticut fever.

I love the state and am grateful to have grown up here, but I sometimes grow frustrated that I’m still living at home and am not living in one of the cities where I had dreamed I’d be.

So, how do I deal with Connecticut fever?

Well, it always starts off with ranting at some point or another, usually to my parents, who remind me to be happy that I have found a job in a field that I love and also that I can keep looking for ways to move to where I want to be in the future.

They’re absolutely right. I have a great job, and am being paid to write which is always a perk. Just because I’m not in Boston or D.C. right now, doesn’t mean I never will be.

You have to remember that while life is in the moment, the moment isn’t all that exists. Your future holds many new moments, some lasting longer than others. If you don’t like the moment you’re in, decide how you’re going to change it, and for the time being, enjoy what you have.

When you grow bored and are looking for something exciting to happen, it’s not surprising that you might overdramatize things. Doing so allows you to feign action and adventure, however, just talking about issues never fully solves them. If you are unhappy with your situation, you have to do everything in your power to change it.

Complaining and venting is better than bottling your frustrations, but don’t do so to an excess. Your attitude affects your emotional state. The more you complain, the more unhappy you will be if you never do anything about it.

When you have a fever, the only way to break it is to let yourself recover. Try relaxing and spending more time outside when the weather’s nice. Or find whatever it is that’s gets you a state of chi. The wonderful thing about being bored is that you have a lot of time to rest. And resting will ease your mind a bit.

At the same time, try to keep yourself busy. This is always my advice to friends who are going through breakups, and it is the same advice I’d give when you’re experiencing monotony. When you’re living at home without a lot of activity going on, you’re essentially in a long-term relationship with your town and may feel like you’re in a rut. You can’t get out of a rut when you’re just sitting there. You need to climb and initiate a change of pace. Find the unexplored regions of your state and discover that there are things to do and new interesting people to meet.

Enjoy living at home as much as you can. It definitely has its benefits. Being close to your family and free rent, for instance, are both advantageous.

Feel free to keep looking, but don’t be blind to what you already have.

"American Jubilee"

The Feature Film, American Jubilee is currently looking for actors, particularly women ages 19-21 and men ages 50-60 to play the characters of Kenzie and Otis, respectively (see below for character descriptions).

Filming will begin in July of this year. This film is currently non-union; however, we may use SAG actors (this is currently under negotiations).
American Jubilee is a feature comedy with existential elements. The screenplay was written by Ryan Casey (Director of Crushing Pennies, Executive Director of Ditch, and Producer of Sensory Perception).

To see some of Mr. Casey’s past work:
Crushing Pennies Trailer – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EsrSPFefHBM

Sensory Perception (Dir. Al Signore) Trailer -

http://www.youtube.com/user/mezentius777#p/a/u/0/z48he1AER4c

Please see Character Breakdown below (to see if you might fit in one of the needed roles).

To apply, please send your headshot to – Dan@AJmovie.com

If we find a fit, we will email you with details about auditions (we will be holding auditions in June).

Please forward this message to anyone who might be interested in this film.

Casting Breakdown

AVERY “Vance” McCormick – 30, average build. Lives at his father, OTIS’ house and believes that he is staying there to take care of his womanizing father. Avery is a follower, dabbles, not good at knowing what he’s good at and/or, not good at knowing what other peoples’ needs are.

KENZIE McCormick – 20, average to thin build. Tries to fix things, engineer, very analytical/left-brainer, touchy, critical even of her family. Was offered many scholarships because of her ability to understand engineering/the mechanics of how the physical world works.

OTIS McCormick – 60, average build. Womanizer. Retiring anesthesiologist. Through exposition we realize that OTIS has an affliction of causing women to be thoroughly interested in him – years of this and his floating from woman to woman (after he and his wife divorced and she passed) is what caused his nervous breakdown.

JUNE “Junie” McCormick – 45, normal build. JUNIE has no filter on life. But this is not necessarily a bad thing… Junie is good at heart and sometimes wishes she could better communicate with the McCormick children.

LYSSANDRA Catfield – 30, Sexy. OTIS’ next semi-blind neighbor who lives above them in the two family house. She supposedly takes care of her sick mother. LYSSANDRA has a sharp sense of humor that stings most people.

RANDY “mittens” OR “the Gull” Gullchrest – 45, normal to larger build. A local thief. RANDY is somewhat of a cultured person – he listens to classical music in the broken down school bus he lives in. He is somewhat hip, but this is somewhat eclipsed by his obsession with thievery. RANDY is living his dream.

CASSIE Bright – 23, Average to thin build. Otis’ girlfriend. Natural beauty. Somewhat earthy. Smart, knows what she wants at all levels of life, calm, realist, kind, has a heart inside, loves animals (because they reciprocate love without any complications and also she likes taking care of them as she does OTIS).

CLAUDE McCormick – 9, the youngest of the McCormicks. Runs a gambling ring at school, has no parental discipline, using only what he sees on TV as a moral compass. Claude is afloat in life.

NADINE- 25 to 30, a very attractive uptight, thin to average build, uber-trendy dressed, as if she were auditioning for Fox News, reporter.

RUDY (a.k.a. Billy the Kid) – 45, male – school principal. Normal build. Randy is laid-back and into Billy Joel.

Young KENZIE – 10, female – innocent-looking; long-hair is needed for this scene.

Young RANDY- 5, male – slightly larger build is preferred.

For more information, contact CT Casting Director, Dan Clark at: Dan@AJmovie.com

When I graduated last year, I never thought that it would take an entire year to find a job. However, it doesn’t really matter because I still had a lot of experiences this year in various internship, freelance, and temping opportunities. My friends who graduated this May have faired better in finding jobs than my class did, however, for those of you who didn’t find jobs, be patient. My advice to you is to stay busy and gain experiences in whatever you can so that you have something to talk about when you eventually get job interviews. Don’t wait around for a job to come to you. Apply to jobs every day and network with whoever you can. Relationships are a large part of any business, and they are integral to the job search, as well.

Your first job won’t necessarily be the last job you have, but you should use every moment at your first job to learn and build a name for yourself. Always put your best self forward.

My job has a three-month orientation period, and at the end of that three months they decide if they want to keep me on or let me go. So, even when you get a job, that is not the end of hard work. In addition to learning all of the programs and software that the newspaper uses, I am covering four towns and have to do so as if I have always been there. Even after you find a job, never lose steam, and always be looking forward and have a clear idea about what you want to get out of the job and where you want to go with your career.

Now, this is an unemployment blog, and I had vowed to write every week until I found a job. However, I think unemployment is still an issue to be addressed, so I will continue to write at least on a weekly basis. Please feel free to write in and ask for advice about the job search or to tell me about your job search experiences. As a reporter and a writer, I am very interested in telling other people’s stories that they feel are worth telling. Post a comment with your contact information, and I’d be happy to hear your story.

In the meantime, you may read my stories about New Hartford, Barkhamsted, Harwinton, and Litchfield at http://registercitizen.com.

Frustrated, I dragged my feed inside and murmured zombie when my mom asked me how my run went. It’s amazing how seriously you take your times when nothing is at stake. When there no longer is competition to push you, you become your own competition, which in my opinion is more challenging and harder on yourself.

My goal is to get my time back down to what it used to me, and my dad made an annoying, yet good point. “You can’t do that right now. Not when you haven’t been training for so long. You’ll get there in time, once you’ve run a bit more.”

Workouts are a lot like many college graduates in the job search. Just like we want to become fit and lose weight right after the first workout, we graduate and expect to be in our dream job, or something close to it, right away. When we do get a job, we want immediate advancement and grow impatient. We grow tired and that alone is discouraging and makes us wondering if we should keep running or keep looking for our dream job. When you haven’t been running for an extended period of time, you fall out of shape. Similarly, when you slow down or give up on your job search, you lose steam and it takes an aggressive approach to reentry to yield success in another round of job searches.

The more you put off running or the job search, the harder it will be to maintain your stamina, pace, and patience. If you make running and the job search a part of your routine, you are more likely to have more continual progress.

When I rehashed my sudden inarticulacy after the interview and determined the actual answers, I understood what a big deal a sacrifice is in baseball. The batter risks being tagged out themselves so that a teammate can score. All ego is put aside for the greater cause, even if the third place runner still is on the batter’s team.

Actually, sacrifice is a big part of most sports. You prioritize the game, your fitness, and your health above anything else. While training dominates your time, in the end, it is all worth it because you hopefully achieve your prime and work together with a team to improve upon your record. So, if the ESPN producer, had asked me about a sacrifice in baseball and I had described how I sacrificed my free time to become a high school soccer and track champion, I would have sounded ditzy and uninformed, but technically I would have been correct. There is sacrifice in every athletic element.

Sacrifice also exists in your life. There are also many types of sacrifice.

The most common form of sacrifice is sacrifice for others. You put others before yourself and make a decision based on what is good for the community. When your mom asks you to clean the toilet, you do it even though, let’s be honest, no one is passionate about cleaning a toilet (and if you are, I’ll hire you, but you should probably reconsider your goals in life). When a friends asks you a favor, you do everything in your power to lend a hand. When a project is behind a deadline, you stay later to work on it to help out your team, even if it means missing dinner with your family. Today, I went to a panel discussion about the importance of a social enterprise, incorporating philanthropy into every business model. While there was skepticism about the feasibility in a capitalist environment, most people agreed that they want to make a difference and help other people to whatever extent they can without incurring debt in their businesses. Relationships are a part of life and a part of business, so it is important to keep community values in mind in everything you do.

However, there will come times when you cannot help someone who asks you to do so, for whatever reason, and that’s when other people have to sacrifice themselves for you. Maybe your long-distance boyfriend wants you to move to be with him, but your job requires that you stay here. Maybe your boss wants you to stay over-hours everyday. Or maybe a company wants you to work for them, but only if you do so for free, regardless of long hours. There comes a point when you need to stand up for your own values and what is best for you. While you may feel guilty to say no to someone in need or someone you care about, you have to be able to judge what is best for you and when personal sacrifice is too much.

Sometimes sacrifice is internal. I recently turned down an offer to teach abroad in Spain, even though I would have loved to travel again, because I couldn’t afford it and I was offered a job here. Someone told me that sometimes you have to abandon what you want to do and face the reality that you need money to make a living, so you should move to where the jobs are, even if you don’t necessarily want to be in that place. Wanting to do something isn’t always enough. There are practical components in consideration. And just because you turn down an offer today, doesn’t mean that you will turn down your opportunities for the future. Something similar could reappear, and when the timing’s right, you can follow through.

I have had a lot of discussions lately with friends who are frustrated because they know what they want to do, but they are stuck in a dead end job until they can get hired. I think this image is really cliche and that everyone should be able to find something they like to do if they have enough drive, but the truth is that it’s cliche because it is a very frequent occurrence, especially in this job market. While it is unrealistic to chase your dreams forever, if it just isn’t working, many young people are wondering how long they should give it before they give up. One of my friends works in a family business and dreams of pursuing his aptitude for art and animation. After a couple years of internships, he’s frustrated and considering staying with the family business permanently. While he may be unhappy with that decision, he would be making the sacrifice to have financial security rather than pursue what he’s passionate about. That is a practical form of personal sacrifice.

On the flip side, if my friend chooses to pursue art and animation, that is a more romanticized form of personal sacrifice. Should you wait until you have enough money to move to a city where your desired job is most lucrative? Some people I know have done that and lived out of cars or tents for awhile. If you’re a musician, you move to Nashville, not Alaska, right? If you’re a writer or an actor, you move to New York or L.A., though arguably, you can write anywhere.

When you pursue your passion, you may abandon the practical to follow your heart. The second path has no financial security, however, it brings more happiness, theoretically, since you are able to do what you love. The money is still a concern, but it doesn’t worry you as much. You’re following your passion and nothing can ruin that, whether you’re rich or poor. You risk getting into debt and having enough to support yourself, however, that is another sacrifice. Many artists struggle before they make a career out of their talent. Even when you establish yourself as an artist, there’s no guarantee that you’ll make a lot of money. So, your risk can be very valuable if you succeed, but what if you fail? Do you simply quit, or give it another go around?

Neither form of personal sacrifice is better than the other. It really depends on what’s best for you and what the circumstances are in a given situation.

There is a lot of risk in your job search. Let’s say you get two offers at once. Which one do you take? Either way can be a sacrifice in some regard, but you just have to make the most educated decision that you can and follow through on it.

In baseball, when a batter bunts a sacrifice, they don’t stop and wonder about if they should have done that. Then neither them nor their teammate will score. They bunt and then run without looking back. Maybe they’ll make it to base, maybe they won’t, but at least they’ll have tried with good intentions.

So, in your life and in your job search, recognize that you are always going to have to make sacrifices. However, as soon as you make one, remember never to look back and to run as fast as you can forward. The worst that can happen is that you’ll get tagged out. Even so, you’ll have more than one chance to bat and at some point or another, you’ll have your chance to hit a homer.

Welcome my friends and my fellow wanderers to the Commencement of the Class of 2010. Commencement is a confusing term to use to describe a graduation ceremony. Many of us think about graduation as an ending as opposed to a beginning. The possible end of your time as a student. The end of living within walking distance of all of your friends. The end of your youth. Your last walk across the quad. Your last meal in the dining hall. Everything you do the week of graduation becomes one last moment, concluding a period of time that is most memorable and poignant in our lives.

Congratulations. You have now become college graduates, which is basically a euphemism for unemployed. Don’t let it wear out its welcome. I can only make fun of the unemployed because I have been one for an entire year. Yes, one year has gone by since I graduated. I am nostalgic for my college years and wonder why all good things have to come to an end. After tough work and overextending myself to find employment, I have grown optimistic and learned that all good things come to an end so that new and great things can begin.

We have a tendency to focus on the past and endings, however, any great writer knows that if you play your cards right, there will be a sequel. The sequel cannot be a repeat of its predecessor, otherwise it is a waste of words, time, and paper, all ever so important in the sustainability movement. While the sequel can revisit the initial story, it ought to introduce new elements and only look forward. The best stories are the ones that make you feel present as you read every word, so present is what you should be in your sequel.

Many endings have captivated and tormented us this year. Several renowned figured have died, some, like Brittany Murphy, much earlier than expected. A Polish president died in a plane crash, along with many of his staff. Oil spilled in the gulf, leaving both humans and animals dead or injured from the explosions and due to the pollution. Europe fell deeper in the economic crisis, and Greece went bankrupt. The winter Olympics came and went. Lost finally concluded, leaving us with questions unanswered. Simon Cowell left American Idol having said the kindest words to the finalists that he’s probably said in his life.

There have been many surprise endings, some good and bad, as there are in every compelling story. When you read a story, you always try to anticipate the ending, but once it comes, you are disappointed the journey is over. However, when you read this way, you miss out on the middle and the intricate pieces that each word tacks onto the overall work. People don’t talk as much about the beginnings.

The truth is that the end is narrow-minded because we forget the beginning. Beginnings happen all of the time, usually simultaneously with endings. While those who died will always be missed, there are new births and emerging talent every day. Crises bring people together to solve problems. Athletes have won their first Olympic titles. The New Orleans Saints won their first SuperBowl. Ellen DeGeneres joined American Idol and Lee DeWyze was crowned the next American Idol. Television series ended, but new series were introduced, proving that there is life after Lost.

People pay more attention to endings than beginnings because endings are definitive and beginnings are more unpredictable. You know how a story ended, but you don’t know how the sequel will develop until you read it.

Graduating from college is a lot like Lost. We crash and suddenly find ourselves in another world. We call it “the real world” even though it doesn’t seem real to us at all. Separated from our family, friends, and loved ones, we encounter “The Others” and form new networks. Until we find our purpose, we feel hung out to dry even when we’re surrounded by seawater. We grow fixated on getting back to where we were. When we’re scared, we blame it on smoke monsters, and when we’re happy, we forget for a moment that we’re on an island. However, the time may come that we’ll forget that happiness and feel alone once again.

The characters from Lost were so obsessed with getting off the island that they didn’t realize how the island was saving them. They all had been flawed in their previous lives and the island took them away from their problems. They formed new lives, friendships, and romances. The island brought people together that felt like they were falling apart. Yet, everyone still wanted to leave. That’s because they were all concerned about the end, rather than a new beginning.

Up until graduation, I sat with a friend of mind of the Class of 2010, and he was freaking out about graduating. He was a psychology major who had thought he wanted to teach, but now he wasn’t so sure. He had been offered a consulting internship in Nevada, far from his home and family in Maine. “Should I do an internship in a field that I have no experience in? Should I leave my family for the first time? I don’t know what I want to do.”

I told him not to be afraid to go for it, and that in the end, the internship was only eight weeks and he’d be back afterward. So what was there to lose? Regardless of how the internship went, he’d have an experience and perhaps gain more perspective on what he wanted to do career-wise. Our careers and our lifestyles can always be temporary and you can make a change whenever you want. The career you have now may not be the career you end up in. But you’ll never get to the end without a beginning.

It is second nature to worry about the future and grieve over endings, however, we often forget to live in the moment. The body of the stories of our everyday lives happen in the moment. It does not matter what we could have done or what we are leaving behind as long as we pay attention to where we are going. An ending would not be as strong without a solid beginning. We need to live life to the fullest from beginning to end, and then beginning again.

While beginnings are uncertain, that’s part of the thrill in life. Not knowing where you are going. Pursue a career and look for a job, but don’t be disheartened if you don’t find something right away. I have been unemployed for a year, but I don’t feel unemployed because I have had so many experiences. And, you know what, I finally found a job. So, just as important as optimism in the beginning is enjoyment of the moment as it happens, no matter the direction in which it turns. Be excited about finding a job and determining your future, but do not let nostalgia or fear of beginning cripple you. Searching for a job is part of graduating, but do not let it consume you. Make a decision and roll with it.

So, yes, graduating is an end, but Commencement is also a beginning. You have finished the first book and now you are onto the sequel. Appreciate the endings in your life, but don’t let them shortchange the beginnings of new stories. Congratulations, Class of 2010. Here’s to hoping that your beginnings make for happy endings. And, as the writers of your own life stories, always remember that if you don’t like your endings, you can always rewrite them.

While companies want to tweet the world, they don’t want to see they’re employees’ tweets on the internet. Although many of us use Facebook to stay in touch with our friends and share photos, things we post or photos of us that we think will amuse our friends may give the wrong idea to employers. When we post anything on the internet, we only see it as it appears on our computer. We do not know who else can see our information and who might be blogging about our information in public spaces regardless of our own privacy settings. A picture is worth a thousand words, but what if it tells the wrong story? We cannot control how someone will interpret what they read on the internet. However, we can control what we put out there about ourselves.

When anything is posted on the internet, it is traceable forever. Even when we delete posts or photos from our Facebook accounts, they still remain in bulk storage somewhere in cyber space. When you print something in a newspaper, even if it is damaging, it is only out there until the papers get thrown out. But with the internet, once you post something, it is there for eternity. So, before you post anything on Facebook, or anywhere, be very mindful of what you’re saying and how it can be interpreted.

I see some of my Facebook friends’ posting photos and comments without caring who looks at them. There are drunken photos, promiscuous photos, messages ridden with profanity and shady comments, and statuses about every argument they have or about how they are mad at the world. These are not all from one person, but I have seen them. And I have seen similar content on friends’ of friends’ accounts whenever they tag one of my friends in a photo. Even when you untag yourself from a photo, you still remain in the photographer’s album.

I have my privacy set so that only I can see my albums, however, whenever I tag friends in the photo, they can see my albums too and their friends can sometimes access them, as well. I don’t have anything to hide, but I still make a point of censoring my photos and am conscious of the fact that anyone may be able to see them. When you’re posting things on your Facebook wall, only post the things that you are comfortable that your parents and your relatives will see. If there’s a photo or a message you don’t want them to see, chances are that you don’t want employers to see them either. You just never know. You could be holding a cup of juice in your hand in a photo, but an employer can make the assumption that it’s alcohol, and if you’re underage or they see a lot of photos like this, they could assume you’re a partier and irresponsible. Save them that trouble and don’t post anything that you wouldn’t want an employer to see.

Whatever privacy settings you have on your online content, you have to be aware of loopholes. Facebook recently printed Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg’s apology about people’s discontent with site privacy settings. Zuckerberg claims that Facebook does not give any information to advertisers or access people’s information for marketing purposes. However, this is suspicious and there have been studies that Facebook, as well as Google and Yahoo, monitors emails and site activity so that any ads on the site can cater to your interests. When Zuckerberg acknowledged the flaws in the privacy settings, he vowed to tighten security and take feedback. For a 25-year-old, I thought he handled the concerns very professionally and eloquently.

I was willing to forgive him until my friend tagged me in a screen shot of the Washington Post website. I read the articles wondering what he was trying to draw my attention to: Jack from Lost in the feature photo or Obama employing more troops on the Mexico border. Then I saw my name in the top right corner. There is a box that has a tab for “Friends’ Activity” and it noted that “Jessie Sawyer shared Mark Zuckerberg from Facebook, answering privacy concerns with new settings….23 hours ago.” Not only can you click on a link to the story, but you can also click on a link to my Facebook page. Even if I hide my name in the Facebook search engine, people can find me by doing so. The actual comment does not in any way incriminate me, however, it is a little disconcerting. It violates Mark Zuckerberg’s statement that they do not release our activities to companies like The Post (how else would they know this?).

And, I’m lucky that they only noted that I posted an innocent article. What if I had posted a crude article on someone’s wall (which I never would do)? Theoretically, they could pull that information too. So, not only did I post it for my friend, but the entire audience of The Post could now know what I posted. Regardless of what I post, that’s between me and the person to which I send a link or tag in a photo.

That is a nice sentiment, but it is simply not true. Even messages you write in an email can trace back to you. You never know who could read your email if the computer is left open or who your friend might show. The written word is powerful, so choose your words carefully and don’t let the only thing remembered about you be the F-bomb. Your employers won’t like this, and honestly, it probably annoys your friends too if your messages are like a scene out of Phone Booth. You can never be sure about what people can dig up about you on the internet, so be careful about what you post so that when they meet you, they can judge you for you, not a virtual misrepresentation of your virtues and personality.

You can complain about the incorporation of social networking into employers’ recruitment, however, that doesn’t change the fact that it happens. So choose your “Likes”, wall posts, and tweets wisely.

I have spent all of 2010 speculating about all of the possible answers to the wonders of the universe. Who are the Others and can we trust them? Why are there polar bears in a tropic zone? How do the characters all have perfect hair and skin when they’ve been stranded on an island for years? Does Kate love Sawyer or Jack? Why hasn’t she considered Desmond or Hurley? Is the island even real? Why are they there? How does Caleb from The OC fit into the story? Who’s the bad guy? What makes the Smoke Monster roar like the Crackin from Clash of the Titans? Should Locke push the button? Do religion and science correlate? Who owns the yellow lab? Will the baby live? Will the mother live? Why do the dead reappear? What is the man-in-black’s name? Why is Jacob invisible? What happened to the rest of the body of the foot statue hidden underwater? Why is a strange man writing people’s names on a wall? If there is an alternate reality, am I living in it?

If anyone but a Lost fan heard those questions, they would consider the asker certifiably insane. Fellow Lost fans welcome the questions and engage in seemingly intellectual debates about what everything in the show could mean. Lost is a show that plays hard-to-get. Every episode presents more questions. Even when something is answered, new story lines only build to the complexity and confusion of the plot. In one of the most recent episodes, one of the characters said, “I cannot give you the answer because it would only create more questions.” That just about sums up five seasons for you. So, if you have not caught onto the Lost hysteria, save yourself.

I’m an avid fan of the show and have watched it consistently for five years. However, the season finale had me thoroughly disappointed. I anticipated the final two hours giving me the closure and answers that I have been waiting for. My biggest questions, of course, were where does the island come from, why are they all there, and what is the Smoke Monster? Unfortunately, while the show provides closure and a sweet endings for the characters, it left the fans hanging. None of our major questions were really answered. And the whole parallel reality/purgatory theme was disappointingly underdeveloped. For such a complex show, that surprised me.

However, in Lost‘s defense, the nature of the show is provoking thought and pondering existentialist questions. We’ve never been given concrete answers about anything. It may have been hokey for the creators to wrap up every loose end in the finale because that’s not what Lost is about.

When you think about it, none of the great mysteries in life are answered, so why should we expect the same thing from television? Do you see real-life criminals monologuing about why they committed their crimes? Is it ever really clear why some things happen to you and others don’t?

People have an obsession with wanting answers. And rightly so. When you are wronged, you want to know why. What is the point of questions without answers? You ask questions because you want answers. You want some control over your life. You want to understand everything. Asking questions is important to generate imagination and innovative thinking, but questions can be dangerous when you grow fixated on them. It’s okay to want answers, but if you don’t get one, and it isn’t essential, let it go.

I often wonder why I’m unemployed. Why are so many people with college degrees unemployed? When am I going to be able to move out of my parents? When can I move to a place that I want to be in and where several of my friends are? How can I make money in the mean time? What if I decline one offer and nothing else presents itself? How much longer will I be waiting? Some of those questions are rationale things to consider, however wondering about hypotheticals will lead you nowhere. Sometimes it is better to focus on the present rather than belaboring the past.

That doesn’t excuse Lost from answering nothing, however, it does make me understand why all of our questions were left open-ended. Life without if is almost a lie. Lost, I don’t forgive you, but I admire that you have never changed for anybody.

All of those conversations boil down to the question of focus. Is it more valuable to have a wealth of experiences or to only take jobs in one field to build my way up to one career?

I don’t have anyone forcing me to be a lawyer or a doctor, and telling me that I have to do a particular thing. However, friends, family members, and business contacts have suggested to me that I should find what I really want to do and pursue it from the get-go. That’s not harsh advice. They’re saying to go after my dream job right away. And, if it’s something I have wanted to do my whole life, shouldn’t I want to focus on putting myself in the position for that job.

After having watched several dream-maker, diamond-in-the-rough shows like American Idol, America’s Best Dance Crew, America’s Next Top Model, So You Think You Can Dance, or even up-and-coming talent on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, I see people taking a risk and chasing their dreams. The shows are only one platform to reach their dreams, and many of the contestants are late-twenties, so they didn’t necessarily pursue their dreams right away. You need a back-up plan incase your initial tactic to achieve your career goals doesn’t work.

In the United States, there are a lot of people with dreams. A lot of people move here from other countries for that reason: they want their piece of The American Dream. Many of us have a tendency to want instant gratification. We can’t bear to think too far ahead because we can’t bear the thought of waiting around that long for our dreams. We want them now. However, that road is longer than we think and does not have a finite end. Sure, we might have more energy to pursue our dreams when we are young and energetic, but look at someone like Betty White who just hosted Saturday Night Live for the first time, becoming the oldest host on the history of the show at 88 years old. And she still is a firecracker of wit and talent.

I want to pursue my dreams some day, but the practical side of me can’t help but think about the financial implications. I am someone who is interested in many fields, most of which revolve around communications and writing, and I don’t like to limit myself to one thing or the other. In this economy, I can’t afford to only pursue one career path. I need options. All of the jobs I am applying for are jobs that I am genuinely interested in and would like to do. Right now my dream is to find a job. My Dream is still in the mix, even if I take the scenic route to get there.

I have heard the argument that if you wait to long to pursue your dream job, you’ll eventually lose steam and be stuck in the path you have chosen. While I’m sure that is true for some people, I don’t believe it has to be this way. You always have the choice. And, if you maintain your drive and passion for your Dream, why can’t you pursue it just as much in two years as you would right now. Yes, maybe it will take you longer than it could have if you had stuck to it from the start of your post-college life, but as long as you get there, does that really matter?

When I first met with the president of the public television station where I am currently interning, he told me that he started off in the mail room and worked his way up. I expressed my interest in screenwriting and television production regardless of the fact that I had no experience. He found a value in my communications, writing, and bi-lingual skills and advised me to look at corporate communications opportunities within media. He said to network as much as I could once I was there and learn what I could about production from co-workers, and that eventually I could work my way in. Now, I am interning at the station and getting the experience that I had previously lacked. I have met people in various departments. That is not a direct path, but it is another route I could take.

The president also told me that these days, companies can’t afford to hire several people. They would prefer to have one person who could do five different tasks rather than five people who could each only do one task. The versatile employees are the ones that survive when employment cuts need to be made.

I have eight different versions of my resume because I have had experience in multiple fields and I am concerned that employers will look at my resume and see all of the “irrelevant experience” and say that I do not have enough in their field. However, as “irrelevant” as they may be, all experiences contribute to your skill-set. You may be doing a job in PR that is a lot of direct and written communications, but maybe the company could use someone with production knowledge to design a promo or ad. You never know when your extraneous knowledge will come in handy. For instance, I hostessed one night at my restaurant and a group complained to each other in Spanish that I had given them a table as opposed to a booth. I speak Spanish and could understand them, so I explained to them in Spanish why I couldn’t seat them in a booth. They were so surprised and excited that I spoke Spanish that they forgot their complaint and it smoothed things over. It pays to have a breadth of knowledge as opposed to a narrow focus.

I admire the people who know what they want to do before they even graduate and pursue a specific career right away. Those people have focus and that is a good thing. However, I don’t think it is a bad thing to consider different careers. That way if one doesn’t work out, you can fall back into another job of your choosing. It is better to have layers on when it’s cold out rather than wearing too much or too little because you can’t account for changes in body temperature. You can’t predict if a job is going to work out or not. Some may see experience in multiple fields as unfocused and unmotivated, but I view it as versatility and flexibility. It takes just as much work, if not more, to become an expert in several careers.

While employers might tend to hire people who are more “focused”, in the long-run, they are going to want to keep the people who wear many hats in the end. So, why bother with the charades and admit that a lot of experience in different fields can be just as valuable as a lot of experience in one specific career-line? One is not better than the other, so why discriminate against one type? There is no one solution to any problem and sometimes focus can come in the form of diversions that lead you to think about what you want more clearly.

When you drive down a one-way road you can’t turn back. Even though a one-way road may get you to your final destination, if you drive down it the wrong way, there may be casualties. Instead, take the multi-laned highway that has multiple exits. Chart all of the possible routes to your final destination. Use GPS if you want, but in the end, go the way that you think is best. Don’t let backseat drivers frustrate you.

After a drought of possibilities, when offers come at you simultaneously, it can be overwhelming. How do you sift through all of your offers?

Make sure that you have thoroughly researched each of your job opportunities. You should do this before you are even offered an interview. Right after you apply, or even in advance, read everything you can about the company and the position. That way you won’t have as much work to do when you do have to make a decision.

Develop a chart that pinpoints certain categories that are important to you in a career (money, type of work you’re looking for, location, will it make you happy, et cetera). That way, when you are offered a job, you can not only think about those components, but compare each of your offers.

Talk your prospects over with friends, family, and people you trust. Venting and getting your concerns out in the open usually takes some of the pressure off of you. It can help to get an outside perspective, but in the end, do what’s right for you.

Realize that you always have a choice. Even if you decide to do a job, unless you have a strict contract, you are not bound to that job forever. If it isn’t working out, you can always quit. Of course, don’t go into a job already expecting that you won’t be there for that long. If you do that, you’re not really committing to the job and maybe you shouldn’t do it in the first place.

Thinking too much can put you in a rut, so what do you feel? Out of all of your options, which are you most excited about and which one comes to mind without consciously thinking about it? Go with your gut. There is no reason tied to your instincts, but somehow your heart tends to steer you in the right direction.

Meditate on all of your options and then sleep on it. Your subconscious tends to pick apart issues that are of concern to you before you go to sleep without putting the same strain on you that you may experience when you’re actively thinking about it. You can make better decisions when you are well rested and sometimes answers will come to you by the time you wake up.

You have the right to accept a job and you have the right to refuse a job. Just because you have offers, doesn’t mean that job is necessarily right for you. If you want to wait for something better that you think you have a shot at, so be it. Whatever you do, don’t overcommit yourself.

Once you make a decision, accept it and be happy. Ruminating about what you should have done will only stress you out.

Many of us have a tendency to think of the decisions that we make now as permanent, but the truth is that people change jobs all the time. The odds are that you won’t find the job you want on the first go-around. If you do, consider yourself lucky.