MY DEAR FRIEND NOW-WHAT.

It's funny how college students plead and cry and complain and count the days until reaching the end of our educational career. The *moment* that we had worked so tirelessly to get to... and then...

Now what?

I've been through the "now what" stage before. After five years in my undergraduate career, I spent my first year out of college pacing around my apartment, walking my dog religiously three times a day, wondering... all of that effort for... this?

So I went back to school, admittedly maybe to hide from Now-What, and went on to do my usual crying, sweating, counting and complaining that all graduate students collectively do.

After only two short years, (I say "short" VERY lightly), I am facing my dear friend Now-What again.

This time, I'm not as afraid. We've done this dance before. I'm feeling a little more Now and a little less What and am ready to put on my tap shoes to start an entirely new jigg.

The thing is, we're not very prepared for Now-What. But every adult-like person has to face him at some point - whether it's right out of college, after they've just gotten married and are soaking up honeymoon sunrays, or the moment they've brought their first child after nine long months of waiting - all simultaneously saying... now what?

As a musician, it often feels as though our Now-What is far more dramatic than other professions. Yes, we are artists that have unrelenting emotional journeys that constantly makes us question our own sanity, but ultimately, our Now-What's are not quite as cookie cutter as the corporate white collar world. We generally don't get to show up to some version of a "performing" interview where we are granted a 9-5 job with benefits and a 401K based upon our abundant musical skills and talent.

We ARE entrepreneurs, or as Angela Myles Beeching calls it, multipreneurs. We wear many hats, delve into multiple projects, and sustain a multidimensional career. Our careers are mapped into pie charts that fluctuate with every passing year. And because of that, we are our own boss.

Rather than making Now-What our enemy, we can embrace him. He's the space that gives us time to create; the space that permits us to follow our curiosities and strike gold on our terms; the space that lets us fail and pick ourselves up on another promising project.

Now-What is my friend. My dear friend. I face him every now and again, particularly on days filled with confusion, jealousy, bitterness, or rejection. But then I remember the trade off: relying on income from an uninspiring job versus being my own source of light and creativity.

I'll take light and creativity anyday.