theneener.net

Like many Thursday nights, I spent tonight unwinding, comfortably watching hours of television on my couch. There is something comforting about a good television show – the recurring characters, the inevitable cycle of a story in less than an hour, and the reassurance that they’ll all come back again next week. Well, okay, these things are also comforting about mediocre and terrible shows, too (re: America’s Next Top Model, Jersey Shore, etc), huh?

So, I’m watching Grey’s Anatomy, halfway disinterested and wondering if I’ll ever stop watching it, when a character asks another character if she had pictures of her baby. There are tears of joy in each others’ eyes and within a matter of seconds, a picture of a baby appears. On a phone. Yes, this is television but this is something that happens everyday. IRL, if you will. I realize I am stating the obvious but I’m old enough to have lived more than half of my life on photographic film that took at least an hour to develop, save the occasional Polaroid shot. My high school memories fit in a few photo albums, small enough for a shoebox. But, by the end of my five-year college career, I had hundreds of pictures of me and my friends online, easily accessible, easily shareable.

I realize this transition was probably less shocking than the invention of the automobile and black-and-white television but I still find myself pausing, thinking, “This is incredible. How did we live before this?”

Just last night, I was “window shopping” through the App Store and took a look at the featured educational apps. I couldn’t help but think about how different my life would have been if I had those apps when I was in high school. Digital flashcards? Geography lessons at a touch of a finger? The circulatory and respiratory system, labeled and interactive, on a 3.5″ screen?

But, after my imagination came back down from taking young Nina to national spelling bees, UIL state competitions, and a perfect 4.0 GPA, I’m back in reality. I’m back, lying in bed, twenty-nine years old, with most of my formal education learned through outdated textbooks, burned through hundreds of pens and pencils, and researched through the Dewey Decimal System.

Would I be better had I been born in the late ’90s? Would I be smarter? How would my life be now if technology did not move at such a rapid pace today? What would I do without search engines, instant communication, and the hive mind of the internet?

These questions I cannot Google so I move on.

Stop by any bar after five o’clock and you’ll find someone who hates their job. Who am I kidding, you’ll find tables full of men and women, pint in hand, either griping about their clueless boss or wanting to talk about everything except their job. Imagine, people spending almost half of their time awake doing something that is not fulfilling them. It’s maddening. I know because I’ve been there.

I’ve held seven jobs in my lifetime. I’ll admit, I’ve drawn lucky hands almost every time, enjoying my stay until I’ve moved or found better opportunities. But, three of those seven riled me up so bad, I buckled down and did something I don’t normally enjoy doing. I quit.

It’s a tired cliché but it’s true: Life’s too damn short. Life is too damn short to spend most of it hating what you are doing. Also, that is idiocy. If you find yourself unhappy about what you’re doing and you are not doing anything to change the situation, that is foolishness. And, as much as I hate quitting, I hate being a fool even more.

But, sometimes, the timing isn’t right. I know. Sometimes, you have to stick with your unreasonable boss because you need the company’s sweet, sweet benefits. This is another thing I know because I’ve been there. So, if you can’t quit and you’re frustrated, what should you do?

Think about your skill set. Think about others. And find a way to marry the two together. Then, make it happen.

For me, that meant doing a lot of random things outside of work. And during work. While at my last unsatisfying job, I started blogging, creating websites and projects that used my talents in ways my job did not utilize, and unknowingly, I networked. I used Facebook and Twitter to engage and observe the community around me. And, I shared my side projects with this connected community. To me, at the time, it was a way of passing the time, to keep sane, but in the end, these activities I did to keep my mind sharp and my spirits high were what finally gave me the opportunity to finally quit.

Now I am content. Actually, I am beyond content as I am now at a company that shares the same vision as I do, doesn’t settle for mediocrity, embraces creativity, and values my knowledge more than any previous employer. I am beyond content because we are a company that cares.

I would have never found a company that cares if I didn’t care in the first place. Thank you, discontentment.