Q. I am in the midst of a quarter life crisis. I hope you can help me.
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I am a recent grad completing a six-month internship at a daily paper in a small town I am aching to leave. My internship will be done in December and I am not sure what to do next. I have been having thoughts of taking a break to travel and explore before I become a full-fledged adult with major responsibilities. Between attending school consistently for four years (summers included) and interning full time for six months, I am feeling burned out.
However, I am scared taking such a break could ruin my budding career. I feel like I need another internship, but the few that are open to recent graduates usually won't hire past the year mark of graduation.
And it seems hard to get a job with less than two years experience. The thought of taking a job "just because" kills me. I feel like now is the only time I can reasonably explain a gap in employment.
What kind of options do I have?
Confused and Burned out in TennesseeA. Take a deep breath! You're freaking out a little bit.
Of course you don't need two years of experience before you can get a job -- or no one would have any jobs. You have to start somewhere -- and you have.
This freakout happens to some of the best people, who take hardly any time because they are doing internship after school after internship after ...
I hardly think a break will spoil a promising career and, if that's the price you have to pay to get this career, do you really want it?
Too often, we force ourselves into false choices. About 10 years ago in "Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies," Jim Collins and Jerry I. Porras wrote about "the tyranny of OR and the genius of AND": The ability to choose two seemingly mutually exclusive options.
Explore the possibility of taking some time overseas -- while doing journalism. See whether you can get a temporary gig, maybe another internship, with an English-language publication in another country. Then, work a solid schedule, but leave yourself time to relax and explore.
Give us your perspective: Has this happened to you? What did you do? Did it work out? Join the discussion by clicking on Add Your Comments.
Coming Wednesday: He asks about a plan to be in college for five years so he can get more opportunities to work on internships.
