So, I didn't make it to the NFL. Now what?

As I'm sitting here typing this on the 1st of September, the college football season is gearing up for it's first week of the season. My favorite time of the year. I grew up thinking that football is all there is to life, all it's meant to be about. I dreamt of playing college football and eventually being in the NFL for the entirety of my youth. Well, I achieved half of my dream by playing college football at Division III North Central College for 4 years. But, now I sit here 1 year almost to the date of being graduated and I'm no longer lacing up the cleats. So, what happens now?

Well, I don't think there is an easy answer to that question and everyone would have a different one anyway. I've been wrestling with that question for the past year and while I don't have a solid answer I know that I've learned a lot about myself in the process of searching for that answer. Life is complicated and it's sometimes hard to sit on your couch and understand what you need to be doing when we are all on a rock in the middle of space floating in an infinite universe. But anyway, other passions of mine growing up included space and science. I love rockets and understanding the science behind why things happen. This passion seemed like a good jumping off point for having a real adult job rather than catching touchdowns for a living. I really was never the smartest person, I was always seen as an athletic kid rather than an academic. I mean, my now Fiance taught me how to cross multiply at the end of my senior year of high school, which I'm pretty sure you learn in 7th grade middle school? I never had the brains of a genius, but I had a pride that made me the hardest worker in the room. That drive stemmed from personal experiences that I went through growing up that fed fuel to the fire of my desire in whatever I was doing. Everyone goes through something, I just chose to use mine as an excuse to work my tail off. Using this fuel I was able to pursue my other passions in school by getting a physics and engineering degree to hopefully do something cool for the rest of my life. I've always wanted to help people so I figured I could use my skills to help advance society and work on NASA spaceships and everything would be sunshines and rainbows. I was able to get a job at an aerospace company that works on fuel systems for jet engines and it's cool work, but I still feel a small part of me that is meant for something more, as I'm sure most new grads do when starting their careers.

That small part of me is longing for a passion that I can go after as if it was my dream of making it to the NFL. But I haven't come across anything that makes me itch the same way quite yet. Granted, it's only been a year. That's the reason I'm sitting here typing this blog post. Blog post? Something I never thought I'd being doing, but I think it's important to try different things on the journey to finding your new passion, so here I am sharing my thoughts. It's also the reason I created this site called Green Professionals. I want this site to be a place for people like me who are still looking for their passion or are new to their career, so we can collectively learn and grow from hearing from each other. So, I'm sorry but I still don't know the answer to the question of "what happens now?", but I think this is another step in the right direction toward getting a clearer picture of what my life should be.