Becoming.

About a year ago I entered “official adulthood”.

“Corporate America”.

The world of “nine-to-five”.

Whatever you want to call it.

Turns out, it totally womps.

Okay, okay. So that’s a bit of an exaggeration for drama and effect, but it’s hard to believe that THIS is what I was aspiring to for all those years: early mornings, business casual, traffic, perfecting my blank and empty “computer stare”, and long, quiet afternoons (the 3 o’clock hour seems to drag on for waaay more than 60 minutes).

Throw in the occasional meeting and unruly caller, some more traffic, a usually uneventful and sometimes lonely evening, off to bed early, and then BAM. All of a sudden the alarm is going off again and it’s a “here we go again…” kind of moment. You know the drill. You live it every day too.

So I can’t help but think, one year and now many paychecks (okay, so that part of a full-time job ain’t half bad...) into “real adulthood” and potentially the rest of my life…

Is THIS what life is all about??

For how long?!

How do I get out??!

Now. Contrary to what the previous paragraphs may suggest, I do not actually intend this blog to be an outlet for frustration or a place for me to vent and complain. I truly am grateful to have a job and that paycheck and a college degree in hand. And, I think, at some point, my job will also provide me with a healthy amount of satisfaction and opportunities to learn.

Where was I? Oh yeah, the purpose of the blog. What I do hope is that this blog will become a way for me to express the concerns and questions and hopefully propose solutions to the apprehensions and plain old “blah” feelings that seem to be a common thread among people in a situation similar to myself (recent college grad. mormon. single. but a really good person!! <aggravated>). And those questions and apprehensions are:

Where do we find JOY and SATISFACTION in life?

What is HAPPINESS?

How do we discover what we LOVE?

How do we PROGRESS and LEARN?

What kind of PURPOSE should we be striving to fulfill right now?

What DEFINES us?

What and who are we BECOMING?

Tack on “while still unmarried and therefore drifting, lost and in what most people call a perpetual ‘waiting game’ to be truly happy and fulfilled” to the end of each of those questions, and I think we’ve really nailed the head on the major concerns of my demographic.

No, this isn’t a dating blog. Neither is it “let’s commiserate together on being a single Mormon in his/her mid-to-late twenties or even thirties”.

Rather, I hope that this blog will focus on discovering how to become, progress, learn and love in this stage and in any and all stages of life. Yes, indeed.

To do: Laundry, taxes, call Grandma, return stuff to Homegoods, blog.

It's been on my to-do list for a while: get back to blogging.

There are some days when I just need to write and blow a little steam, but then I always seem to talk myself out of doing it on a blog.

Maybe because there are already more than enough blogs out there: design blogs and DIY blogs and fashion blogs and travel blogs and mommy blogs and Mormon "I’m twenty-something and single" blogs... so why do I need to add my words and pictures and posts to the already over-saturated blogosphere?

Or maybe I’m hesitant because I've read one too many icky, cliche blog posts that have made me want to shake the computer screen and scream, "Stop talking now before you embarrass yourself even further!" Because what if I accidentally became that blogger? Yikes.

Or, maybe I've stayed away from blogging because reading some exceptionally awesome travel or design blogs leave me feeling jealous and envious. Or feeling inadequate and just plain lacking in what I accomplish day to day and thus far in my life. And I don't like that feeling. So perhaps I should just stay away, because my little blog could never measure up.

So at this point you're probably saying, "Well yeah, Karlie, you've made some good points. And maybe you should stay away from blogging and get back to your knitting (or whatever keeps you busy) after all."

And yet... after describing all those reasons why I should probably just stay away... here I am. Finally checking "get back to blogging" off my to-do list.

And why? Because I really want to write again. Oh I really, really, really want to write again! Can that be a reason all its own? Who cares if it’s stinky, or if it maybe garners a laugh or an eye roll. I need to write again! So whether it’s welcome or welcome back- here we go.