Breaking Something to Make Something New

Want to know where the road map is for changing careers? The big secret is…

Yeah, I don’t know either. I don’t think there is one.

In two weeks, I will leave my career as I’ve known it. I will say goodbye to my students, colleagues, an apartment, a city, and some of my dearest friends.

It feels a little bit like I’m about to jump off the edge of a cliff, albeit an intentional and intuitive leap. But to borrow a little Seth Godin wisdom, I am breaking something to make something new.

I’m not sure if most of us are too scared to jump off our cliffs, or just too scared to be vulnerable and talk about it (and the scraped knees - or broken bones - that ensued).

I do think we’re in desperate need of more honest and vulnerable conversations around navigating major life change, especially changing your career or venturing out on your own. Hell, even around divorce, heartbreak, losing a spouse or a loved one.

Surely I’m not the only person to ever run flailing off the edge of a metaphoric precipice and (hopefully) land on her feet somewhere else. That somewhere else is a place I can feel in my bones, but I don’t really knew the topography. I tried to pack the right gear, but I know there’s no cell service for Lady Google to tell me where to go.

We like to skip right over the messy middle, talk for two sentences about “the challenges we overcame,” and cut right to the neat conclusion, where we “became stronger.”

I’m calling our collective B.S.

I want to talk about the messy parts. I want to learn from others. I want some actionable strategies. I want to feel scared, and vulnerable, and brave. I want to know it may work, and it may not work, and do it anyway. I want to feel not alone in it.

Can we have those conversations?