Anyone who’s ever chosen to do something slightly out of the ordinary is probably well-acquainted with the feeling of alone-ness that comes from doing something that’s not common.
The past couple months I’ve had quite the adventure trying to explain to curious coworkers, old teachers, and random people off the street what, exactly, I’m doing with my life. Am I in school/not in school? Praxis? What’s that? You can get skills and a job without debilitating debt? Is that, like, one of those online scams or something?
Even though it’s totally worth the questions and explaining, it can sometimes be a little isolating because everyone thinks you’re weird and not-normal, which is not really untrue but it can still be lonely.
However, yesterday at work I had the best interaction.
Barely 20 minutes after I had finished giving a manager spiel about Praxis and what it was all about, I ran into somebody that I knew. And instead of the usual greeting of “What are you up to/you’re still around here, huh/have you graduated high school yet?” (I’m almost 22 and I get that one multiple times a day), he said the most refreshing sentence I’d ever heard (that day).
“What’s this I hear about you doing Praxis?”
He knew!
I didn’t have to say a thing! No explanations, no backstory—he knew.
It was one of the most affirming, comforting interactions I’d had in awhile.
It’s not like I don’t love talking about what I’m learning or sharing about the beauty of this awesome program with others. But there’s something special about talking with someone who’s already on the same page with you so that you can immediately go past the shallow stuff.
And that, my friends, is awesome.