Pumped For Firsts

In the process of learning how to adult, there are many learning steps to be taken. Last week I got my first car, which I am utterly ecstatic about. Now I know that for a lot of people, a car is something they get at sixteen or seventeen, but that’s just not the way I did things. Since I’ve never really needed a car until now, I’ve also never learned how to pump gas, which is something that was rectified just a few days ago. Things like pumping your gas seem like no big deal, but the thing about doing anything new, is that you need to know how to do it. A family friend explained pumping gas to me as if it were like having sex. Put in crude terms, you just put it in and keep it in until it's finished, you’ll know when it’s finished. When he told me this, I laughed out loud, but thinking about it, he’s not wrong. You could say I lost my gas pumping virginity the other day and like anything, the first time you do something, it’s bound to be clumsy and you’re not going to be a pro at it yet.

    I’m not going to compare all firsts to losing your virginity, but let’s be honest, there are some similarities, no matter if it's a first day at a new job, the first time pumping gas, or the first time trying to barbecue meat. Practice makes perfect, and in most places in my life, I’m hardly there yet.

    I’m beginning to learn that I am in for a lot of firsts being right out of college. You think you know the world from what you’ve lived, but the truth is, there is so much more out there to discover. Every time we begin somewhere new, we have to start all over from the bottom and work our way up. Just like moving from middle school to high school and high school to college, the professional world is not much different in the chain of hierarchy. That’s just how it works, no matter what opinions you may have on it. Personally, I’m excited to see what my next firsts will be. They can be daunting, but it’s important to remember that the things that scare us are often the things most worth doing. We have to accept that we won’t be pros right out of the gate, but with time and diligence, we’ll get there.