LEARNED HELPLESSNESS

Either the guy I met with at Lactagen is sick and has not returned my email, or he decided it was best to find someone else to work with. Either way, I don't really have a problem with it because I'm very suspicious of this company and my experience at HelpCity has taught me not to move forward with things that don't work well with my gut. Gut feelings, I'm learning (since I'm reading a book called Blink by Malcolm Gladwell), are more than what you might think they are.

I felt ill all day and it seems like my illness is getting worse. I felt really good yesterday, but maybe it was because I was taking medicine. My body will fight this cold off eventually, but I wish it would do it much faster. I think my lack of exercise is also contributing to this feeling because exercising really helps me reduce my overall levels of stress.

As I was surfing the Internet today reading the news, I learned about "learned helplessness". The American Prospect's editor was writing a piece that was much talked about in Washington about the Democratic Party. He likened them to the dogs in the 60s experiment that were exposed to electric shocks. They had the opportunity to escape the shocks, but instead, they cowered in the corner and whined, feeling that nothing they could do would matter.

In a way, I'm wondering if I have learned helplessness having had bad experiences with the advertising world. In fact, yesterday, I kind of wondered why I wanted to even work in advertising again. I think I have decided not to pursue media anymore, but to accept work as an account executive just for the experience. I would not mind learning to manage an account and a campaign from start to finish. I believe this could help me with other creative positions I ever get involved with.

Strangely, I also had a feeling that I would be content working for a university. I suppose it fits into my general ideals of educating people and giving back. It also fits with my socialist attitudes of not worrying about making money. I suppose that's why I would never really care about becoming Trump's apprentice.