Boomer Ronin

Escape from Limboland

by: Yaromil Fong-Olivares

A lot has been written about the transition from college to career. It is a common belief that this transition marks a young person’s entrance into adulthood. Nevertheless, there are many young people who get stuck in the transition. We’ll call this Limboland. For many it is a lack of motivation. Yet for others, it is the need for structure, challenge or guidance. Due to their propensity to end up at under-resourced community colleges, confinement to Limboland tends to be associated with lower income students. However, although income is a contributing factor, Limboland is inclusive and there are many young people of means who are as disoriented as their lower-income peers, and also end up in this permanently transitory life stage.

For the most part, Limboland residents received mediocre grades in high school. While in high school they showed up for class but put in minimum effort. Some were chronic truants but were savvy enough to show up when it mattered most, like testing day. In many cases, this lack of effort and academic engagement was a result of early entrance into the workforce, involvement in athletics or other demanding activities that seem more important than class at the time. For some it was the ever-present teenage angst.

After graduating from high school, these young adults enter college (community and senior) with a false sense of hope, thinking they will finally find the passion and engagement that they lacked in high school. Or rather, taking a more passive role, they expect that such passion will serendipitously find them. As they struggle with staying interested in college life and academics, enthusiasm wears off and instead of finding a passion Limboland becomes more alluring. This is the crucial time when many students realize they lack academic preparation, study skills and family support. If they are to succeed they must now work much harder than their peers and with very limited support. While some do avoid Limboland by spending hours in tutoring or the writing center, many acquiesce into a life of Limbo. You may be thinking these are generalizations but the truth remains that if any of us looks around, we each know at least one of these limbo-dwelling young people. Rather than blaming or pointing the finger, I have some suggestions for a successful escape from Limboland.

Recently, I announced to my family and friends that I am pursuing a career as a life coach. After almost a decade of doing youth development and nonprofit management work, I am considering this my second life. I expected bewilderment and even skepticism. Instead, I received countless requests for life coaching sessions, and even gave some impromptu, urgent sessions as interviews and relationships needed quick intervention. I found this alarming and decided to explore it further. I spoke with various young people about this desire for life coaching. They all expressed a lack of drive, enthusiasm and concern for the delayed arrival of what they consider their “calling”, something they are passionate and excited about. “Like how you are excited about life coaching,” one young woman said. Another common complaint was the lack of challenge within their current jobs and academics. I thought to myself, these are all reasonable and thoughtful expectations. However, the truth remains that the young adults I am talking about are not over-achievers waiting to be recruited by top financial and legal firms. They are smart, yes, but they are also the ones that work full time at retail shops, rush home at midnight to complete homework due the next morning and sometimes use their limited income to pay someone to complete their assignments. From a survival standpoint, this is a savvy approach; albeit ironic since rather than learning themselves they are helping their peers become better equipped to become their future bosses.

In a society measured by standardized testing and ability to follow directions and structure, these young people are at a disadvantage. Or are they? I believe they are actually better positioned to find true meaning and achieve true financial independence from a society based on career hierarchies and overly corporate business practices.

The truth is that these young people are an untapped resource. I am not referring to the expected incorporation into the workforce. Rather, an untapped resource to themselves. Here is what I suggest: what if these young people who refuse to settle and follow a predetermined path (i.e. college, tuition debt, marriage, entry level jobs) really search within themselves and decide to follow their current passions. Granted, it may be an interest in fashion, dancing, video games, MTV, or even tattoos. To name a few of the things youth culture seems to be about nowadays.

One example is a young woman whom I spoke to for this piece. She was enrolled in a community college that she paid for out of pocket, sometimes with her mother’s help. After her third year, she was out of a job and her mother was out of patience waiting for her to receive a two-year degree. She also owed the college money. She eventually dropped out and got a part time job at a trendy clothing shop in Soho, New York City. She was making enough money to maintain her shopping habit and her weekend nightlife and still living at home.

A club promoter noticed her natural dancing abilities and decided to give her a try as a dancer at his dance club. No nudity or stripping, just sexy clothing and house music. Since she was a frequent patron she decided to give it a try. After a few months, she was dancing at various clubs and making up to $1000 a week (that’s 56K per year!), in addition to her part time job.

Now you are probably thinking, she will not be able to do this forever. True. She thought the same thing, which is why she decided to gather a few of her friends, who happen to also be waiting for that light bulb to turn on and show them the way to a perfect career. Together they formed a dancer collective. Currently, they are in the process of incorporating as an LLC and I suspect that they will develop a reputation for their unique business model. All business, including decision-making, is done as a collective and 20% of each dancer’s salary goes back into the business’ overhead.

The goal is to hire additional dancers as needed. Even if the business does not succeed long term, these young women are gaining invaluable experience in entrepreneurship, management, marketing, and networking. Better self-esteem, improved body image, developing troubleshooting and conflict-management skills are just a few other crucial benefits of this project.

So what’s your current passion? How do you spend your hard-earned money? When you are sitting at your desk, bored, answering the phones, what do you daydream about? Therein lies your untapped passion or potential light bulb switch. Call it what you wish, but trust yourself to turn it on. Everyone has a passion, and usually the first passion will lead to others, even if it takes you years to discover and many more years to commit to them.

If you are reading this, I encourage you to think through these questions. If you are truly open, more questions will rise and I guarantee they will lead you closer to your core passion, what you’ve been waiting for your entire life. Passion leads to fearlessness and determination. That combination will lead you to success. Escape from Limboland now, the world is waiting for you.