8 years ago, I was stuck. I had been living in the Washington, D.C. area, fresh off of the breakup of a long term relationship, and working an Advertising job I wasn’t passionate about. I knew I had to make a big change, but wasn’t sure what that was going to be or what steps to take to get there. After taking a good, hard look at where I was in life, I saw all of the directions I didn’t want my life to be headed anymore.
I ended up conjuring up the courage to do what I considered, at the time, to be the scariest thing I could think of: Move to New York City without any further plan. It was a huge leap of faith for me to bet on myself enough to know that - somehow, someway - I would figure it out and succeed. Or not, and I’d fail, but at least I would know that I had tried. This is the first step in creating change in your life:
1/ Acknowledge Fear & Doubt
Write down all of the things you don’t want in your life and work backwards from there. What’s scarier - making a change and failing or doing nothing and staying in the same rut you’re currently in?
”The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure you seek.” - Joseph Campbell
When I arrived in New York City in the fall of 2016, I had whittled all of my earthly belongings down to be able to fit in one 50 liter backpack. I’d completely paid off my student loans, had no debt, and had saved a few months of survival expenses. Luckily, I had a friend who was living in Hoboken and had a futon for me to crash on until I could get a job and my own living situation. I started applying to Advertising jobs and quickly realized that my heart wasn’t in that line of work anymore. Through a long series of resume submissions and dumb luck, I was offered a job in the Hospitality industry, one that I had previously only worked in briefly as a dishwasher in high school. I would be starting at the bottom in a field I had no experience in. I decided to:
2/ Bet On Yourself
I’ve struggled with self-confidence my entire life and frequently ask myself questions like “Are you good enough? Can you actually do this?” Through going all in and committing myself, I learned a ton about what I’m truly capable of and that there are very few limits in our ability if we put in the effort to figure it out.
The innumerable challenges, accomplishments, failures, and successes that I’ve experienced over the past 8 years working in Hospitality have brought me to this crossroads. Currently, I find myself embarking on the next chapter of my life after moving on from my previous employment.
I know that I want to work directly for myself and have the ability to choose the Ws of Work: When I work, on What, Where, and for Who. I know that I’m going to accomplish this primarily through Writing. (Wow, a lot of Ws going on here.) Which leads me to my following piece of advice:
3/ Take Action
Sitting around thinking about making a change is a lot less effective than just doing it, regardless of whether your plan is “perfect” or “the right time”. Do it and then figure it out in real time. That doesn’t mean be careless about it and not set yourself up for success or not have anything to fall back on in case you fail. But this is the big thing, the rest of your life we’re talking about. It’s important to get going on it sooner than later. Lastly, it’s never too late. Apply to the job, ask that person out, move to the new place. It’s going to turn out differently than how you expected it to.
But, you won’t regret it, I promise you that.
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Excellent writing and advice. Look forward to reading more