here for all of it, all the time

I hate the idea that people can do only one thing forever. I've always hated that. I also hate the idea that if you decide you want to try something else, society has this very unnatural expectation that you give up the thing you are already doing (likely at an expert level) and just focus on the new thing. WHY? Who came up with that rule? Where is it written? I move that we amend yet another silly unwritten rule that is not sustainable in the rapidly changing global economy. The 21st century is modern man's rendition of the first Renaissance of the 1400s to early 1500s. In the Renaissance period, I hope we still read about generally in school, all of the educated people were experts at like 85 things. Just check. No one was just doing one thing. In fact education explored every field of the day (and maybe it's because they weren't educating half the population at the time, the WOMEN) and most people did at least two things very well and in some cases 85 things.

For example, Shakespeare had to be well versed in classic studies to produce the plays that he did. Much of his poetry was heavily influenced by Dante, Italian poet and philosopher (I mean have you read Inferno - that's not leisure reading and can we talk about his unhealthy obsession with another man's wife, Beatrice?). Chaucer was a lawyer and an author who also engaged the King's court. Da Vinci was an inventor, scientist and artist. Am I to believe that only men have ever been capable of this level of awesomeness? The point is at some time in history people decided specialization was better and even botched the famous "Jack of all trades" quote to make it seem like being good at many things is problematic. What I hate the most is the fact that we talk about diversity all the time but we are AFRAID of people who are truly diverse in the ways that matter the most, diverse thinking, diverse knowledge and understanding, diverse connectivity with a variety of subject matters and the ability to draw connections across areas and fields that the status quo never could.

Why do we limit people based on our limited perception of how a life should be lived? Why do we limit our perspectives to those that we are most comfortable with and expect major shifts in the way we interact in the wider global society? It is absolute madness. It is the madness that keeps our society trying to go back to the good old days that NO ONE enjoyed the first time around. I think that's why I just do what I want. Usually what I want aligns with what I'm doing at the time based on the seasons of my life BUT sometimes what I want is starkly different. Everyday I wake up lately, I a finance attorney who misses practice, who has a few scholarly articles she would like to submit to law reviews and continue to guest lecture OR even develop that class I keep telling admin about at my alma mater every year and create a pipeline for black law student who want to do finance PLUS I'm presently consulting with women entrepreneurs and helping them develop their business models and strategies to thrive as new business owners PLUS I'm Auntie Aubria writing children's books and designing limited edition plush toys that her 13 god-kids approved PLUS writing nonfiction books and digital guides to help business owners increase profitability, get inspired about their leadership patterns and create healthy work environments so that even the worst bully would need to submit to positive vibes despite what level of toxicity they are used to PLUS PLUS PLUS...

But I always did it in phases and stages before. I rarely let the different scraps of my career overlap because they didn't really make sense together and I hated explaining my moves to people who were doing MUCH LESS. The career journey started officially when I was a senior in high school:

I remember when my AP English Literature teacher announced that I was destined to be an English teacher (because of my obsession with books mostly) and that I would be bored with anything else. I hated that proclamation. It felt like a curse to me. Not because I had anything against becoming a teacher; no, it was that seed of you're gonna to this one thing for 40 years and then retire and die. I hated it so much because as a 17 year old kid I was thriving in my science and math classes and my BNL science internship had me thinking I could be a brain surgeon and neurochemist who wrote about my findings regularly in peer-reviewed scientific journals. And here comes the first negative Nancy raining on my career parade at such a pivotal age -- college applications were in full swing.

Then I remembered the family member who told me I shouldn't pursue medicine because I lacked compassion. ?? I was different then but I wasn't antisocial with sociopathic tendencies. I just didn't express my emotions the way people were doing it then (and frankly the way people do it now). I stuck with the pre-med anyway and I double-majored in English and Chemistry with a philosophy minor. All the while, I remembered that little toddler telling everyone she was going to be a lawyer. The ten year old telling her friends she was going to be an international business lawyer (LIKE WHAT WAS THAT EVEN? I had no idea but I wanted it so bad). I remember I was so annoying to one of my cousins and he would always tell me to shut up and ask me why I talked so much and that little six or seven year old looked him in the eye and really said "I'm practicing for when I become a reporter" ?? .

Then I got sucked into the corporate retail and fashion vortex where everyone had some five year plan to derail God's plans for me. Managing people when I was barely out of high school. My five year plan has always been to MAX out Aubria while maxing out profitability for the company I happen to be working for at the time, whether or not I am the owner. I need to be remembered as so awesome that when people decide to tarnish my name people look at them like they are crazy. I can't be repping Jesus and not be excellent sorry. That would be a strange advert for Christianity IMO. Feel free to disagree but God did say I was gonna be a lender not a borrower so you'll just be arguing against God okurrr?

The gag master's degree was probably the thing that got people to stop asking me about what I'm doing now or what I planned on doing next. It was a gag because Medieval Studies is not the subject matter you get a masters degree in when there is a Great Recession in progress BUT oh my God I was so obsessed with Medieval war technology and the romances and the quests and the bestiality and the superstition and the Catholic Church on steroids and Joan of Arc and Chaucer and fiefs and fiefdoms and you get it LOL. And the English teacher was right - I became and English professor for a little while and they even let me teach social justice seminars where I trained students for ten years to question everything first and then find the right answer second. And I was still managing stores then. It was during that time that student asked me point blank: Professor Ralph, you keep asking about our 5 year plan, what's your five year plan? Imagine having to admit you were stalling on becoming a lawyer ??

My mom found out recently that I was actively involved in the process of becoming a Youth Pastor the year before I started law school. I remember when the lead pastor told me he felt like like God had something important for me to do in the marketplace and I admitted that I had taken the LSAT prior to applying for the position. If I could just study Jesus and talk about Jesus and become more like Jesus everyday and get paid for it, why not right? I didn't fully give up that track until the lawyer teaching my nonprofit law course at Regent told me he didn't understand why I wasn't in their JD program because my assignments read more like the people in the JD program.

One of the greatest gifts I have had in all my life is the time to do everything necessary to fulfill all of the purposes I am meant to serve on this side of eternity. I can't even call the driving force grit anymore. It's something else. It's something supernatural, perhaps I've tapped into the 5th dimension and God has bestowed me with the ability to time jump. You think I'm joking but I don't get to be a 5th year associate when I'm a few months shy of four years in practice without some divine intervention. I don't get to book almost 11,000 hours in 4 years without having some kind of divine anointing to get it done. So the next time someone demands you stay in the tiny box they built for you remember, there's a human out there perpetually doing the most because they have some inner drive, some interest and even expertise in seemingly random subject matter, that cease to be random because she is her. And if she can be all that she can be (AND MORE), so can you because you've got a little scrappy girl in you too.

#scrappygirlproject

#education

#careers

#womenentrepreneurs

#livingoutloud

#nofences