There’s this big idea in society that we’re supposed to have life figured out. The sooner we’ve nailed down a plan, the sooner we can execute and claim our prize, right? Wealth and financial freedom, fame, success, self-employment. Whatever our prize(s) look like to us, the sooner we put our noses to the grindstone the sooner we achieve them. That’s how it all works, right? Not necessarily. Life is fickle, plans are often fleeting, and our expectations must often stay fluid, lest we disappoint ourselves with our own stubborn rigidness. We need to be open to the opportunity, to the possibility, that life can and will change.

Life is a lot like the chase sequences from Scooby Doo. You know the ones where the background seems to go on forever and the Mystery Inc gang is running from door to door while being chased by that episode’s ‘ghoul’. Yeah. Life is like that. A seemingly never-ending hallway of doors and windows, each with something unseen on the other side. We call them opportunities. We as humans have a bad habit of not always taking advantage of opportunities afforded to us, either because of fear, doubt, or it not fitting into the plan that we had for our lives. Maybe because the opportunity is unconventional and unorthodox, we think it can’t benefit us or help propel us to achieving our desires.

These unorthodox opportunities are sometimes exactly what we need, even if we ourselves don’t know it. It’s our chance to step outside of our comfort zones and the safety of things we know; to explore new routes that reach the same destination. To discover hidden talents and cultivate underutilized ones. To meet new people and expand individual networks. Every door, every window, every internship, and every job you take is an opportunity. Your opportunity to explore, expand, and innovate yourself. Be open to these opportunities, embrace them. In turn, they could open up to you exactly who or what you’ve been looking for all along.

XOXO,

The Intern