Emerson Exchange 365

If you’re like me, you spent your high school and college days listening to Taylor Swift and thinking, "YES, Taylor you really get me!" When my 22^nd birthday was coming up, I couldn’t wait to belt out the lyrics “I don’t know about you - but I’m feeling 22.” If you’re also a Taylor fan, you've probably noticed that she hasn’t written songs about the years after 22.  What am I supposed to feel at 23, 24, and 25, Taylor? What am I supposed to feel in the blank space? I’m not referring to the long list of ex-lovers Taylor sings about in her song, Blank Space. I’m talking about the blank space you may experience in the period known as, 'life after college'. For the first time there isn’t a set curriculum, timeline, or a guidance counselor to tell how you should spend your days. You are out in a new world or shall I say, the "real world" where days aren’t organized by class schedules, tests, and homework. You’re in blank space. Now cue the quarter life crisis, those days when you alternate between feelings of excitement and being completely overwhelmed as you navigate through this new space and scramble to execute that 5-year plan you talked about in job interviews. If you think you’re alone feeling this way - you are absolutely not. If you think everyone around you has a plan and knows exactly what they want to do in life, then you may be giving those "life is perfect" Facebook posts too much credit. I’m here to tell you that you are not alone, the blank space is normal. Moreover, you can use this intimidating blank space to experience more in life than you ever thought possible. That is, IF you embrace it. So, exactly how does one embrace the blank space? Here is my story...

Two years ago I was pushed into this blank space after graduating college. Upon graduation, I received a piece of paper that told me I was a chemical engineer. Even though I had completed two engineering internships, obtained a degree, and had a job lined up - I still didn't feel like I knew exactly what I wanted to DO in life. As it turns out, the job I accepted was perfect because it allowed me to explore my blank space. My first job (and current job) was as an Engineer in the inaugural class of Emerson’s Engineers in Leadership program. In this rotational development program, I moved every 8 months to a new location, new business platform, and new functional area. In the past 2 years, I can say that I have definitely stretched out of my comfort zone and into the land of ambiguity and blank space on multiple occasions. There were times it was overwhelming, scary, and frustrating. However, I was slowly able to overcome these feelings when I let myself reflect on the rewards that this this blank space actually offered me.

First, blank space offers you to the opportunity to learn beyond a set curriculum or textbook. For the past 20 years, your identity has likely been defined by your classes and extra-curricular activities. You were bound to a certain learning path that had been dictated by requisite courses. But in blank space there are no constraints to your learning. As an engineer, you are a creator and a thinker.  Thus, if you don’t let your degree dictate what you should be doing professionally, you can actually expand your skill set to included areas outside of traditional engineering. Be willing to step out of your job scope and functional area by supporting projects or tasks that will stretch you. Through the Engineers in Leadership Program, I took on roles in supply chain management, marketing/business development, and strategic planning, none of which were areas I studied in school. Each of these roles allowed me to gain skills beyond those I obtained the field of process engineering. My learning opportunities ranged from traveling to Mexico to manage a supplier and help ramp up new production to conducting product concept testing with customers in China and India. These are experiences one may would not associate with an engineer, but if you allow yourself to explore beyond the traditional paths engineers are known to follow, you can learn new skills, develop new interests and better understand what areas you want to explore in the future.

Second, blank space stretches you out of your comfort zone and leads you to expand your horizons. In the past 2 years, I have lived in Ohio, Singapore, and Texas. In each location, I didn’t have close family or friends nearby when I arrived. As hard as it was at times, it forced me to explore new places and people - much more than I would have done if I had the comfort of friends and family around me. Before I took this this job with Emerson, I had only been to 2 countries. In the past 2 years alone, I have been to 15 countries! I could not have imagined or attempted to plan being able to do that in my life thus far. Each country offered much more than just sightseeing, assimilating to new cultures and learning new job skills. During each visit, I overcame a fear.

One of the greatest moments outside of my comfort zone was when I went canyoning in Vietnam. I had no idea what canyoning was until a few days before the trip; this is precisely when I realized I had a fear of canyoning. Canyoning is hiking, sliding, climbing, and repelling down waterfalls. I was, quite literally, stretched out of my comfort zone as I was attached to a rope and asked to climb down a slippery 60-foot waterfall! I’m thankful for the encouragement of program mates to help me overcome my fear that day and have one of the coolest experiences during my time in Asia. Blank space can take you to places you’ve never seen or experienced before, literally and figuratively. It is true what they say, life meets you outside of your comfort zone. In order to grow, I suggest looking for opportunities that challenge you to step out of your personal comfort zone. 

So, I challenge you to not think about life as forming and achieving plans, but to look at life as an opportunity to collect a long and varied list of experiences. Experiences that will teach you new things and stretch you beyond your comfort zone. Don’t just focus on experiences related to work but look for experiences that make you navigate through the unknown, try something new, or gain a different cultural perspective. Instead of focusing on a specific plan or the end goals, focus on what you can gain from the journey through the blank space. Allow the twists and turns of life to fill up that blank space with something better than you could ever have planned. And, as you embrace the blank space, remember Taylor’s words, “I never miss a beat, I’m lighting up my feet and that’s what they don’t see- that’s what they don’t see. I’m dancing on my own, I make the moves up as I go and that’s what they don’t know – that’s what they don’t know. I keep cruising, can’t stop, won’t stop grooving.  It's like I got this music in my mind saying it’s gonna be alright.”