After submitting my 10th summer internship application today, I started to get nervous. I didn’t realize how hard it would be to find an internship position.  I’m willing to work for free, after all! But I suppose that is the case for thousands of other public relations students as well. I submitted applications to four places two weeks ago, and only interviewed with one, which I hadn’t heard back from. Today I submitted six more since those first four options weren’t looking too promising.

I have been telling myself that I am going to intern this summer, that I will get hired somewhere. Maybe somewhere out there the perfect summer internship opportunity awaits me, and I may never discover it if another company scoops me up first. I keep reminding myself that hard work does pay off, and mine will not go unrewarded.

One thing I’ve learned this semester is that everything does work out. The constant freaking out over tests, papers and projects is all forgotten in the end. The best part is the reward–seeing the A on Blackboard, or just the feeling of getting one step closer to the ultimate goal. The ultimate goal can be as short-term or long-term as you want–finishing the week, completing the semester, graduating, finding your first job or discovering your dream job. The point is that everything you do has meaning and is not pointless.

We watched a speech from a Stanford graduation in this class. One thing Steve Jobs said is: “You can’t connect the dots looking forward, you can only connect them looking backward.” That quote stuck with me because it’s so true in every aspect of life. I can’t wait for the day that I look back and see all of my dots perfectly connected.

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