February 4, 2011
Generation Gap
I was having a conversation with some friends the other day about how we seem to struggle with the whole work thing. From just being generally satisfied (or lack of) with our professional careers to figuring out what we want to be doing now, in a year or five years from now. Where do I want to be living? Do I need to go to grad school? Do I want to change careers altogether?
My friend felt that a lot of dissatisfaction related to a sense of entitlement from our generation, that we feel entitled to be happy at our jobs and that everything should be great for us. How is it that our parents’ generation found a job after college, and for so many, work there for most of their life? But I got to thinking, is it really a sense of entitlement or is it something else?
How is it that I have been out of college for three year now and just started my forth job. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think this is normal, there is a lot more shuffling around in politics than other industries. And I would not have changed or taken back any of it. A new job always resulted in a step forward, but always had me questioning what I was doing and where I am trying to go.
Maybe it is Washington. I am sure that is part of it, but I don’t think the blame can fall fully on this city. Why am I so confused about my future? Why am I afraid of making commitment to this city or any job? Why am I always looking for the next thing?
Then I came to the conclusion that all these things were not just a sense of entitlement and lack of commitment, but also a lack of contentment.
How is it that I can be this way when I was given everything in life to excel and do whatever I wanted. I was blessed to be well taken care growing up by my loving parents who gave me everything I ever wanted. They sacrificed so much so that I could go wherever I wanted and do whatever I wanted. And what have a done with it all? I have been anxious in the confusion of it all and remain very unsettled.
It’s not that I am unhappy with my life, I am enjoying life and DC. I have great friends and am having so much fun. But I do hope that I reach a point where I am no longer anxious in my career. Will that day come?
Until then, happy Friday friends!
xoxo,
L
January 10, 2011
The things that keep me up at night
Well friends, happy 2011! I hope you enjoyed the holiday season wherever you were. I had the privilege of spending it at home in California. Not only did I spend some long overdue time in Bakersfield with my family but was also able to spend some time in Napa Valley and LA. Not a bad life. But it has stirred some questions in me that I have yet to answer…
Spending great time with my family only makes it all the more difficult to say goodbye to them, even after extending my stay several days longer than originally planned. Sometimes I wonder what I am doing living so far from home. Why DC and why politics? Will I regret it years down the road that didn’t spend as much time with them as possible? Am I chasing something that is futile? Where do I even want to be in five years? I don’t know. I just don’t know and that scares me a little. I turn 25 next month, and I feel my quarter life crisis coming on a bit early. Well this is just great.
Bakersfield is a humble place, nothing glamorous and nothing more than a middle class town in the Central Valley. I was born there and spend 18 years of life there. I left over seven years ago and since then haven’t spent more than a few weeks there at a time. When I do come home I tend to look around and think this isn’t the beautiful California most people think of. But then I remind myself that this is where I grew up and I don’t regret that. It may not have the best scenery but there are some really great people there and it is because I grew up there that I turned out the way I did. I wouldn’t change that for the world.
Sometimes I ponder going back to my roots but as quickly as that thought comes it is dismissed again because most jobs center around oil and agriculture. So I keep trekking along in DC the only way I know how. And when these emotions of anxiety and fear come over me I have to remind myself that I need to take one day at a time and rely not on my own strength but He who gives me strength.
Signing off for now.
XOXO,
L
September 9, 2010
Such Is The Campaign Life
I have battled through enough election cycles and been on the loosing end one too many times to know that this industry we call politics is not for the faint at heart. It is all-consuming, high-adrenaline, exciting-in-the-moment and exhausting-till-the-end.
I don’t talk politics in this space much, just because I often use this platform for an escape from the political world. I have lived it and breathed it for the last, oh four and a half years, and know that having a life outside of work is equally important. But being that we are 54 days from November 2nd (for those of you out there- that means Election Day!), I thought I would pause to touch on this for a minute.
This past year has been filled with more ups and downs with work than I have been willing to admit (however I have done my fair share of complaining to my friends) and the energy before an election in what keeps me going and gets me through it. It’s unlike anywhere else.
The stakes are high. The competition is fierce. The hours are long. The work is daunting. The people are crazy.
But, if you win, the rewards make it worth it.
The good and bad of working in campaigns is that there is always an end date. Come the day after the election when everything is over, pretty much so is your job. This was stressful when I first started working in campaigns and my nature wanted to tell me to have everything planned out. However this industry gives you a good dose of reality that there are many things beyond your control. Usually when the dust all settles, something will come your way but you have to know there may be a period of uncertainty.
So, that time is quickly appoaching again where the election will be over and who knows what or where I will be after this. I hope that the experiences I have gained and connections I have made have prepared me for the next big adventure.
But until then, back to work!
March 23, 2010
Fire Nancy Pelosi
With just a few hours left in the online campaign, and still in less than 40 hours the RNC has raised more than $1,002,010!!
The Goal? Raise money to fire Pelosi by gaining back the 40 seats needed to win the majority.
March 14, 2010
The Health Care Fight
As I sit this Sunday morning listening to David Axelrod speak on CNN’s “State of the Union” he stated to Candy Crowley something that made my head spin.
In regards to questions of the passing of a health care bill before Congress he said, “insurance lobbyists are falling on Capitol Hill like locusts.” And it only made me think that while he sees insurances companies lobbying Capitol Hill to persuade legislatures to vote AGAINST the current Obama Health Bill, the White House is doing the very same thing to persuade the same people to vote FOR the Bill.
While the blame game is a central aspect of politics, pinpointing lobbyist as the problem in this debate is at the very least misleading. The White House and Obama are lobbying Congress as well. Everyone is trying to influence the Members who have control over the future of America and what will be in the current health care bill. Making the lobbyist go away, as Obama publicly fights for, only means that there would not be an equal fight. I am not saying that the perspective of lobbyists are right or aren’t only out for themselves, but lobbyists themselves are not the problem. They can only be influencers if Members allow themselves to be influenced by them.
So, let the fight continue and let the voices of Americans be heard.
March 2, 2010
TX Primary Today!
Who do you think will win the Texas Governor Primary today?
Many of the polls show current Governor Rick Perry ahead by double digits.
February 25, 2010
Blair House Summit
Today is a big day for President Obama and those who will be meeting with him at Blair House across the street from the White House. The negotiations and conversations have begun between Democrats and Republicans about health care legislation and what compromises can be made to move forward.
But many questions still remain, is it too late to include Republicans in this process or are Democrats just looking for people to agree with them? The Democrats need their help to get the votes passed but really these talks should have come before the Democrats put out their bill. However from comments like those of Chris Dodd made earlier today that, “Republicans can either join us or get out of the way,” this doesn’t sound like bipartisanship but further dividing the two parties.
I believe that the health care debate really centers around what America can afford and where funding would come from for covering the health care of the American people. I want to expand access, but I agree with Senator Lamar Alexander that the best way to do that is to lower the cost, not by expanding the government.
So, let’s go back to the drawing board, start over and do something that is not beyond what this government can afford, that can bring real change.
Below is the live response from the Republican Party.
RNC Research Live Response To President Obama’s Health Care Summit
