Breaking the seal

 How much of life's difficulties is tied to taking the first step?

Any of us with initiating issues could write a book on the subject. But of course that would involve starting with (and staring at) a blank page for a few hours.  And then doing something to avoid it, like getting snacks, binge-watching something or cleaning out the sink and drying rack or something equally less daunting.

Anyway, the bete noire facing elder was (note past tense here) filling out an application for his first full time job.  He doesn't get the whole idea that applying for a job doesn't mean he will get it (especially since he is 4 for 4 in the job derby and has been with two of them for 5 years each--the other two were finite, paid internships.) So yeah, the real world has not yet come calling for him. 

Boredom ensues. I give him a very short to do list yesterday at noon and told his we would go for an adventure when they were done. One of those things was filling out an online job application.  I reminded him pretty much every hour on the hour that he needed to get that done.  He "yeah, mom"med me from the man cave, and I went about my business.

Getting to the end of the work day, made a couple calls, had a laugh with my partner in crime, and got dinner going.  Took younger to his rehearsal. Finished up dinner, and sat down with elder to eat.  He cleared his spot (just as dad was coming home) and announced we were going now to do the thing. 

"No, we aren't," I replied. "Not until you fill out that application. The one I have been asking you to fill out this entire month, and the one I tasked you to do 8 hours ago. If you did it, we'd be out the door by now."

He roared with frustration and went to retrieve his laptop while dad got himself a plate and joined us at the dining room table. He sat and did the thing, and was annoyed that he also needed to update his resume (something else I've been nagging at him to do for at least a month) and write a cover letter.  It was too late for adventures by the time he was done, but at least he knows I'm serious about making sure he does the thing. 

And I told him it's normal to be anxious about that "what's next?"  This is one place in my history that he and I are almost on exactly the same page. Between undergrad and grad school, I did my own stumbling around. I don't even remember how I hit on where I ended up going for grad school; as far as I remember, I applied for one place and got in and got a TA.

Anyway.  Maybe this is the stumbling around he needs to do to figure out what next. Breaking the seal, getting started, all these things get easier the more you do it. And as you get older and more experienced, getting things right the first time is less important than getting started.

So let's get started.