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Starting Well

I saw a young woman not much older than J enter a nice apartment building with her poodle on a rainy evening while on my way back to the hotel. The rain was spent by then and only a mild spray remained but the dog was a bit drenched and so was the woman. They were coming back from her dog-friendly place of work most likely. 

The scene brought to mind the question of effort, quality of life and desire for more. By most standards, this young person was doing very well for herself barely out of college. Back from work at a very reasonable hour, accompanied by her dog and living in an upscale neighborhood. If a person has attained all that already then would they care to take on risk and discomfort to try things that are better long term but come with a lot of short term pain.

 If this is the only work life a person has known since college and continues to for several years after, it may impair their ability to accept other harsher realities. Maybe there is no harm in that - to land into comfort early in life and just keep it that way. The last part though is fraught with peril - this is not an easy thing to keep as years go by. Comfortable jobs tend not to be challenging either and make you irrelevant in the broader market very quickly. 

My first job out of college was the epitome of comfortable - well paid, low to no stress and a very short walk from my apartment in a safe neighborhood. I was surrounded by families with young kids and there were also singles like me.  - there was plenty of company after work so I did not have to go further to have a social life. It took me about two years to overcome the inertia that this combination of comfortable things produced and get out to the real world. 

I started to learn things that would make and keep me professionally viable only after I left that job and city. Had it not been for the ambitious peer group I had started with (who all left the place within a year), I don't think I would have summoned up the energy to get out myself. I was infact the last person from that group to leave and it may well have been my last chance to get out. 

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