I should be packing right now.

Since graduating from Indiana University, I really haven’t known what I was doing with my life. I felt that the newspaper industry was the wrong path for me and I veered off into the land of freelance commercial work, but it didn’t feel right either. I’ve been treading water for months, waiting for a change. I had been planning a move to New York City, but without work lined up I was dragging my feet.

When I saw a posting for an editorial internship at Serious Eats, I never thought I’d actually get it. Putting together an application was mostly just a way to keep myself busy. Even when I got an interview, I tried not to get my hopes up.

When I got an email offering me the position on Monday, everything changed. I immediately booked a one-way ticket to New York and scrambled to find a place to live. I was getting in Saturday; one week isn’t exactly a lot of time to prepare to move halfway across the country. Writing this on Friday, I’m still unprepared. I have a place to stay tomorrow night, and then probably an apartment to move into Sunday. I have my camera gear and enough clothing to survive packed up, but I know I’m missing things.

My mind is full of contradictory emotions. On the one hand, I’m freaking out about this. But on the other hand, part of me is strangely calm. Since graduation, I’ve been waiting for exactly the right time to change my life. But there is never an exactly right time. Sometimes you just have to take a leap of faith. I don’t know that this is the right path, but for now I couldn’t be happier to start down it.