The road less traveled by
Recently, I presented a webinar for alumni of the George Washington University about how to approach a career pivot.
I'd like to share my opening remarks with you here...
~
My career path has always been non-linear, and I rarely had any idea what was coming next.
Some of my friends from college have had much more straightforward career paths, like becoming a cardiologist or rising the ranks at a financial institution.
But for me, the path was never so obvious. When I was little, I wanted to be an Olympic figure skater, but by middle school it was clear that wasn’t in the cards. After college, I knew I was interested in the arts, social justice, community building, cross-cultural relations, and education – but I didn’t know how I would be able to combine these interests into a career.
And in my career so far, I have struggled to put a label on what I “am”: over the last two decades I’ve been a tutor, teacher, program coordinator, music festival director, facilitator, political conference director, community organizer, career coach, and singer-songwriter, to name a few of my “hats.”
Because the path wasn’t straightforward, at times it involved a lot of uncertainty and frequent reshaping of my professional identity. Which was challenging! And this could have led me to feel adrift, or feel like my career was less successful than someone’s with a more conventional path.
But I decided to embrace the scary and open-ended process of finding next steps that are fulfilling and aligned for me. Again and again and again. And I came to think of it as an ongoing adventure or journey.
I found certain questions coming up over and over, like:
What’s the change I want to create in the world?
What will I actually enjoy doing?
What are my strengths?
And what can I make a living and fulfill my work-life balance needs doing?
After going through this process so many times myself, I realized that I thrive when holding space for other people to explore the same questions and chart their own “roads less traveled by” (to paraphrase the Robert Frost poem).
Many of you may be grappling with these same questions.
Some of you may be recent graduates trying to find your way from your first job or two into something that fits you even better.
Some of you may have experienced career or personal setbacks during the pandemic and are now regrouping and looking towards the future.
Some of you may be feeling a stronger pull towards social impact careers in the midst of climate change, racial justice reckonings, threats to democracy, and global conflict – as we’re seeing today.
And some of you may be feeling burnt out from front-line work and looking for ways to recharge your energy while continuing to be of service.
Wherever you are in your career journey, my message to you is this: You are worthy of doing work that brings you joy and creating the impact you want to make in the world.
~
Learn more about ways to partner with us on navigating your professional journey.
~ Sarah