Braving the Real World: A Wandering Wednesday by Erin Bower

After a phenomenal summer of guest posts while I hang with kids 24/7, it’s time to bring it to a close. It’s fitting that my final Wandering Wednesday submission of the summer comes from a good college friend and a fellow writer/wanderer. You can follow Erin on Twitter at @Ebowerwrites, and she also runs a sweet writing site here. Check her out!

While this summer of Wandering Wednesdays may be over, I’m certainly not done featuring posts from my readers and other fellow writers. If you’re ever interested in sharing your own wandering tale here, visit my contact page to let me know, and let’s make it happen!

Take it away, Erin…

“Not all who wander are lost.”

I never knew just how much this quote of Tolkien’s would mean to me.  As I graduated from college and embarked into ‘the real world’ at the end of 2007, my plans for the immediate future were to get some sort of teaching job, move out from under my parents’ roof, and hopefully get married a few years later.  At that time, I had very little knowledge of what it was actually like to be an adult.  After some job hunting and substituting, I finally landed my first teaching job.  Very quickly, I realized that being in charge of mischievous elementary students and doing loads of tedious paperwork just wasn’t for me.  In fact, as an introverted young lady with an overly creative brain, it was quite possibly the opposite of me.  Quitting my first full time job was hard, but I knew it was the right thing to do.

This initially gave me a sense of freedom but with it came confusion.  I knew what I didn’t want to do with my life but not what I wanted to do.  All I could fathom is that I wanted to move away.  This desire led me to Rome, GA where I acquired job experiences in retail, child care, and my first tutoring job.  Some months later, due to financial reasons, I ended up living in my parents’ house again.  After a few short months, I moved to Athens, GA.  I enjoyed working in retail and other part time jobs, but before another year had passed, I was moving back home.  It seemed that the cycle might continue, but God had other plans.

Throughout this past school year, I have continued to live in my hometown.  I enjoyed tutoring high school students in math.  Though it is only a part time job, I am very grateful for whatever income I can earn.  In addition, this has allowed me time to work on my writing.  Writing on various projects has allowed me to use the talent God has given me and is hopefully helping others in diverse ways.

Some might say I am still ‘wandering’, because I have not yet acquired a full-time position and remain unmarried.  What I’ve realized is that every person has a different timeline, because we are all on separate journeys.  To some it might seem that we are wandering without purpose, but God has placed us exactly where we’re meant to be within each moment of our lives.  I know that without these struggles I could not relate to many others with similar problems.  Also, I would not rely on God as much to provide exactly what I need.  I pray that you, like me, continue wandering, growing, and seeking Him.