{I shared this on Friday with my Facebook page fans but thought my LinkedIn followers might also be able to relate…} And who hasn’t heard the term, TGIF?
I had my head down for so long I forgot how to look up. I was living the dream… a corporate marketer getting my MBA at night. I was determined to get a raise… to get promoted. I was hellbent on climbing that ladder, willing to work harder and longer because that’s what it took. I would work for bigger firms with stock options, and I would lead larger teams. Manage bigger budgets. Look at me go!
And I wouldn’t realize when it was no longer fun. Or rewarding. I wouldn’t notice that I had gone professionally numb. I had blinders on, doing what my dad called keeping your nose to the grindstone. They were hot pink, and bedazzled, but blinders still.
Life Pause, Career Change
Until one day life caused me to pause. Married back then, I was just six weeks pregnant when I got laid off. In a panic that defies description I raced to find a suitable job before the inevitable bump. But my life’s plan was not to be a mother and shortly after I miscarried a second time a few weeks later, I realized that I’d rather stick a hot poker in my eye than take another high tech marketing job.
Reinvention
Instead I hung out a single shingle and eventually reinvented myself as a professional speaker, trainer and coach. Looking back, the inclination was always there… I gave my first speech in the eighth grade!
Seven years ago I gave myself the freedom to consider an alternate path forward. To imagine waking up in the morning once again excited to go to work. To leap without knowing where I might land.
Do What You Love, TGIF!
I can honestly say that I love my job. And I reserve the right to change my mind. To look up every now and again and make sure that my career compass is still pointed north. Toward freedom.
May you remember each time you hear #TGIF that the path is yours.