Reality Is Right Now
I have been out of college for four months. I have been living and working and travelling in Germany for two months. The most difficult circumstance since I've been out of college has been economic. I never have enough money. I can sustain myself, but just barely. (Editor's note: since the writing of this article, Daniel reports that he has figured out how to make lots of money and more than support himself, but the information that follows is still both relevant and important.)
I spent quite a bit of my time believing that this was entirely my fault and that what I needed to do was to return to the U.S. and "settle down" -- get settled and invest time in one career, in one city. Oddly enough, I was so certain this was the right thing to do that I began to think in terms of RC principles of "doing what makes sense," and I thought, "It makes sense for me to slow down and settle down."
But this opinion that I needed to settle down somehow did not fit the facts of present time. "Settling down" had nothing to do with my decision to come to Germany.
In the meantime, I had visited the University of Berlin and considered studying there. I thought to myself, "How interesting it would be to live in a once-divided city and meet young German students, all different sorts of people." And then, shortly thereafter, the distress recording played again, "No, you should go back to Chicago and settle down there." As I thought this, as this distress recording played, it was accompanied by a general feeling of disappointment, that somehow I really wanted to be in Berlin but felt that I "should" go back to the U.S. and settle down.
One day, I picked up the July 1993 Present Time and read Jenny Sazama's article, "Becoming Young Adult." It really pulled my attention out, and I re-evaluated most of my decisions and my situation. The pull to settle down and plan for the future, was a result of young adult oppression. The decision to settle down implied that my present life and experience were invalid, that I needed to stop doing things spontaneously, that I needed to know exactly what I wanted. Once I gave myself the direction, "This is it," that what I'm doing right here right now is valid and good -- I really began to be much more in present time here in Germany. I was more interested in all the things around me. I was less restimulated by being in a foreign country, and my fluency in the German language was much better.
I have since found that taking the direction of "now is the time, here is the place -- not later, not when you're older" has been enormously helpful and I've enjoyed my life and Germany much more. I have decided to apply to the University of Berlin for the summer semester starting in April 1994, and to meet all those interesting people in Berlin, hopefully even to be a leader of young adult liberation in Germany!
Daniel Williams
Germany