Why we need to stop using the term “career path”
I write a love letter every week and hand-deliver it to your inbox on Wednesday. This is just a piece of it. Come join us over at https://www.wntta.co/
Good morning gorgeous.
Let’s talk a bit about making life changes.
I told a room of university students once to stop using the term “career path”. It’s a nonsense phrase invented by university professionals trying to corral us into a really boring narrative. You choose a degree, and that degree dictates one of 3 jobs you can have, and you’ll pretty much do that until you die. If you made a 10-year plan, and you knew each career move you’d make, each important milestone you’d hit, and you followed it to the letter — what a boring ass life you’d lead.
*yawn* how dull.
Your career isn’t a path, it’s a map. If you don’t like the road you’re on, you can get off and take a new road.
Sometimes adult life feels like you’re driving down a dark road at night. You can see a bit of the way, enough to know that you’re not doing a Thelma and Louise, but not enough road to see the destination.
Not knowing what’s up next is scary — and it’s a bit scarier when you’re working hard to get to a destination that’s still shrouded in a bit of fog and mystery. It’s natural to get frustrated, the kind of “what the fuck is this all for” kind. In those moments you have to lean into the unknown and have some trust that if you just keep driving, you’ll end up somewhere interesting.
Some of us are on highways, and some of us are on country roads, there is no right way to get there. Don’t judge your journey against anyone else’s. And if you don’t like the road you’re on, you can take an off-ramp and do something else — because you, my friend, are holding the damn wheel.
When you are feeling stuck, remember that there is more road there, even if you can only see 3 feet. Keep going. Trust that the path will reveal itself.
And while you’re on this weird little road trip, stop off at the world’s biggest rocking chair or some shit, ’cause that’s the adventure part, baby.
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“It’s very hard to have ideas. It’s very hard to put yourself out there, it’s very hard to be vulnerable, but those people who do that are the dreamers, the thinkers and the creators. They are the magic people of the world.”
― Amy Poehler
Thank you for popping by this morning, friend! Please bring a new friend to the campfire next week. Why?
1. Bringing friends grows this community. We do this shit together.
2. Growing keeps the letter going, when we show up for each other cool things get created.
3. To remind someone that they’re not alone.
Love,
Sarah
Every week we’ll send you a love letter. Our mission is to make you laugh, make you think, and make you feel less alone. Welcome.
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