My dearest Lizteners! (If it feels weird hearing this from me, it’s probably cause you haven’t heard it in a good few months)
With that said, it should sound like music to your ears, because after a bit of a hiatus, I’m back – for good that is. If you’ve been following me on my IG (@lizbreuer – shameless plug), you might have come across a little something I’ve been up to. I believe “graduation” is what they call it. It’s a time where you come to realize that the past four years of your life have been over-consumed by late night study sessions, running around the city delivering heavy garment bags, experiencing what it’s like to be a fashion intern and living through a so-called “quarter-life crisis” aka “I thought I had a plan all along and now here I am having no clue what the hell I’m gonna do with my life – or do I know exactly what I wanna do? What I don’t wanna do?” If reading that didn’t give you an internal anxiety attack, you may not be able to relate to today’s blog post topic: Life Post College Graduation / Liz attempting to provide you with some inspirational/motivational, very wise life advice.
As I’d previously mentioned, me being MIA from Liztening.com is due to the fact that I didn’t have the time to create the quality of content I’m willing to put out here, so I took a little break from it.
I’m not one to boast about my own accomplishments, but in this case – which I’ll get into a bit more later on – I consider myself aloud to: For the past 4 years, I’ve truly busted my behind, which led to me graduating summa cum laude from the Fashion Institute of Technology (aka the best fashion school in the world) with an AAS in Fashion Business Management, a BS in International Trade and Marketing and three minors in math, economics and ethics/sustainability. In addition to that, I’ve completed 6 internships, volunteered at multiple fashion shows, was a member of 3 clubs at my school, co-founded So Off Topic and launched Liztening.com.
So why do you ask yourself did I just list every experience on my resume? Because I want you to do the same – I’m serious! Take a pen and notebook and write it all down. I’ll continue once you’re done.
Now that that’s out the way, let me continue. From the second I walked through the doors of FIT, I could feel the competitive nature of the school, which wasn’t a bad thing in my opinion, but it for sure made me aware that simply being a “good student” wasn’t gonna cut it to “make it” in the industry. With that said, so many of us have worked so hard from day 1 to get to where we see ourselves in the future that we often get ahead of ourselves. We lose track of our accomplishments – both big and small. As a college student, you’re taking up so many new responsibilities by solely living by yourself, away from family and old friends. You’re being exposed to a completely new territory, forced to make new friends, adjust to a foreign city and dealing with what I like to call the “early twenties quarter life crisis”, all while keeping your grades up and interning or even having a job.
The unknown is what can often be extremely frightening and anxiety-inducing. You go to college with a certain idea in your head of what it is you want to later on pursue. Depending on that, you’ve chosen a certain major. Maybe that major was totally up your ally, maybe it wasn’t. Regardless of that, we may come to the conclusion that throughout those 4 years of college, we’ve not only experienced a lot of personal change and growth, but also in terms of where we want our professional journey to take us and THAT is where SH** goes down (excuse my language).
Since this is my blog, I’ll share my own story with you. I knew I wanted to work in fashion marketing since I was a teenager. However, I thought I was going to work exclusively in luxury, having a glamorous (completely delusional I know, but this is 13-year-old me imagining what it’s like to work in fashion believes) life filled with fancy parties and a closet dripping in designer gear. As I’ve matured over the years, been educated by both my professors, as well as through my own research, my areas of interest have changed to the extent where I couldn’t even imagine myself in a highly corporate environment. I fell in love with startups, dynamic teams and having a meaningful career that centers around the well-being of people and the planet.
We’re overly stimulated. First thing most of us millennials do is stare at our phones, checking text messages, our Instagram feed or FB updates. So whether you now think you know what it is that you want to do with your life, someone on the internet you’ve come across first thing in the morning, either has already done it, has a better idea or indirectly tells you that you wouldn’t stand a chance because of X,Y and Z. The more I was being fed these quite emotionally draining notes, along with consistent negative energies of my close community, I felt less and less confident about my career path. It’s at that point that I then realized that I needed to cut ties with certain individuals and trained myself to use social media as a tool rather than a representation of an unreal world I was trying to assimilate to that I truly started to flourish.
The only voice in your head that truly matters is the one telling you that you can do every and anything you’ve always wanted. Insecurity and doubt are a natural part of your maturing process, but don’t let it take control over your mind and actions, and rather treat them as a stepping stone to grow from. If I hadn’t gone through the countless hours of anxiety attacks and self-doubt incidents, I would’ve never moved forward in life. My fear of failure is innate, but I’ve managed to release myself from it by allowing myself to reflect on my accomplishments, believe in my abilities and accept that change is inevitable. Whether your first job out of college is your dream job or not, continue to believe in yourself and strive for your goals. Don’t ever let anyone tell you otherwise and if they do, send them over to me – I got your back!
As to what’s next for me – I say just stay tuned and you’ll eventually find out. As of right now, I’m choosing happiness and continuing to stimulate my mind with new projects… TBA 😉
And lastly, a HUUUUUGE thank you to my work wyfe @sweetgaltamz for taking these amazing pictures and being such a supportive friend!!
In case you haven’t “liztened” to my podcast “So Off Topic” with my dear friend Tahmina yet, WHAT are you doing?! Click below to find our latest episode in which we discuss how we deal with both arguments and disagreements in all sort of relationships.
Not enough? Here’s more. Make sure to follow our page to stay up-to-date on the latest episodes of “So Off Topic”.
I love it ❤️❤️❤️