I dropped out of college. After one semester. [Insert Shrug Emoji Here]
I don’t regret it.
All through middle and high school, the messaging, “go to college, get a degree and get a good job” was everywhere. I remember taking a career quiz in seventh grade, although I don’t quite remember what job I was destined to have. (Because brains and passions and skills are clearly fully developed by that age.)
I only applied to one college my junior year. Because I had convinced myself that I was going to be an inner city youth pastor and there was only one college I needed to attend. “It was God’s plan.”
Luckily, I did get accepted to that college so I could adhere to the path laid out in front of me and I didn’t have to worry about figuring out another plan. The path myself and many others in my generation were shown is some variation of the following steps:
Graduate college
Find a life-long career
Get married
Get a dog
Buy a house
Fill it with kids
I’m sure by now you can tell, I didn’t follow that path one bit. And I’m most definitely not an inner city youth pastor considering I am an ex-vangelical, forest dwelling, beer serving, business building woman instead.
Life-long careers are long gone. It’s a surprise when I see others around my age that have been at the same workplace for 5+ years!
Y’all - I have changed jobs five times since the beginning of 2021.
In addition, I also experienced changes in my make-up looks, and hairstyles, and clothing styles, and ways of getting to work, and where I physically do the work.
And most importantly, I myself, deep within the center of my being; have changed.
Last week I wrote about letting things burn. Like expectations from others and self-inflicted shame. And now that we have this beautiful pile of ash that we can sprinkle over our cereal to eat for breakfast, what’s next?
Embracing the change and accepting the unknowns.
I’m beyond grateful to have had parents that wanted me to have a successful future and life. I know the path they laid out that teachers and other leaders and adult influencers in my life doubled down on, was the path they saw work for so many of their generation. I know they provided those steps with good intentions and well wishes.
What I learned is, that didn’t prepare me for how I’d handle the forks in the road or when the path was extra rocky.
I taught myself to pivot, adapt and pick up the pieces to start over again. I’ve landed myself in the “wrong” job - as in the wrong job for me - many times now. Mostly because, I’ve been trying to put myself back on that life-long career step over, and over, and over again.
Last summer I learned, I don’t want a life-long career.
I want a life.
And, I want the work I do each day to feed my life. So I registered our lil’ hobby farm as a business; Oberon’s Acres. And in the coming weeks, I’ll be meeting with the local farmers market team to see if there’s space for me to join the market in Summer 2023. (Note - I still have a job that I very much enjoy, but I picked something based on passion and community building over career building.)
For many right now, their jobs were ended via a layoff. For others, they’re wondering if what they do for work is all there is. And perhaps that’s the ignition to the fire where all those previously laid out steps can be burnt to a fine dust.
Don’t be afraid when the pieces of the path laid out for you burn, or the path gets rocky, or the path isn’t anything like someone told you it would be and there are 17 different forks you have to make life-changing decisions from.
Let it unfold and pivot.
Learn what spurs your soul to say, “hell yes!”
Embrace the change.
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