Right Brain, Left Brain Debunked

Artwork from Mercedes Benz Advertising

When I read this article on Huffington Post, I thought it came to me at an opportune time. I was distracting myself from collecting my thoughts for a meeting with a recruiter. This three-year-long job search is quite exhausting and I'm wondering how many more ways I can box myself up on a piece of paper (the answer is an annoying infinity).

Right Brain, Left Brain Debunked- Huffington Post

As I'm writing down a "synopsis" of my background, my specialties, and differentiators, I feel dejavu. Not because I've been applying to jobs for forEVER, but because my paper seems to resemble an essay I wrote for that dreaded "Common App" to get into colleges. Remember that? A general app designed to make it easier for you to apply to more colleges when really it was just a hoop to get to all the "supplemental forms." Anyway, I wrote an essay detailing an internal struggle between a scientist and an artist living in the same body. And this was before I went to college and lived out 4 years of this struggle. Luckily I found the science of people which happens to fall directly in between my two selves: psychology.

My psychology degree isn't what you think. I'm not "analyzing" you. In fact, most of my time was spent in a cinder block basement organizing data, reading, and writing in the dark. Even though it was glamorous I still felt like it wasn't totally right. You see, I couldn't let go of my theater-self and refused to acknowledge my personal limitations on time management... so I did both. For four years. And when I was done. I felt no closer to either self. One of my close friends said something to me in passing that has stuck with me throughout the years, "you always have one foot in and one foot out."

She's right. I usually feel like I have to choose between two passions or paths that seem so different that I couldn't possibly do both. I always looked at this as a burden that weighed on me in my personal life and my job search. Who am I if I can't decide what I am?

I've always been plagued by the whole "left brain vs. right brain" question. But like the scientists have decided, I don't think there's really a difference for me. I think I have one big middle brain. For some reason I've been straddling an imaginary chasm. I don't know what has changed but I can finally see from a different perspective that I've been hiding my most valuable asset: I CAN DO BOTH. I'll scream it from the rooftops. I CAN DO BOTH. I've got both feet in and I'm gonna do the hokey pokey and turn myself around.

That's what it's all about!

What it's like to be a Positive Nancy.

Finally finished my fitness inspiration board I started 8 months ago. This is a physical board I'm going to hang in my kitchen. It felt really nice to make something with my hands.

April 1st is a new beginning in so so many ways. I'm getting ready...I know planning is imperative to meet my goals.

I have learned over the years that when one's mind is made up, this diminishes fear; knowing what must be done does away with fear. - Rosa Parks

Female intensely seeking career, loosely seeking job

I'd like to look at myself 4 years out of college and say that it got easier. 

"It" meaning "life." But since when does that ever happen? I feel more lost now than I did 4 years ago when I moved back in with my parents and had my whole professional career to define. In an ever-changing job market with new fields popping up everyday I get overwhelmed pretty easily. Apparently, I'm not the only one. Groups, committees, and entire communities are forming everyday for people like me. They are offering career workshops, interview training, resume fixing, and networking opportunities. They're so nice and supportive and positive. They're also not what I need right now. I've spent the entire beginning of the year learning how to pitch myself, change my marketing approach, hunt down the opportunities I need and meet the right people. Sounds good right?

But my problem has never been figuring out how to get what I want. My problem is that I have no idea what I want. Isn't that an age-old, universal problem? 

So I'm stuck feeling like I should want a career. 

When all I really want is to want something bad enough to go get it.