Throughout college I dreamt of going into PR, so realizing that I hated the rat race of the press industry left me feeling disillusioned. What now?
I contemplated my options and sought advice from friends and family. Ultimately, I decided to leave my job and move back home with my parents to reassess my career goals.
No decision has ever felt so alleviating, yet so painful. Though I was happy to be leaving a role (and tyrannical boss) that was physically and mentally detrimental to my health, I was riddled with doubts about my decision. What did I think I would find out there? A shortcut to success? So while some of my friends lauded me for being a risk-taker, I felt like a complete failure.
With no 9 to 9 to report to anymore, I began to reflect. After four months of being unemployed, I eventually landed a job as a collections manager to earn a small income while I career searched. When I wasn’t working, I conducted countless informational interviews in addition to exploring my interests in social media marketing and freelance writing. I even started my own blog and to write for online sites. I realized I loved receiving comments from readers; it made me feel like my writing had an impact. Thus, I began looking for full-time roles that would allow me to share information and interact with people in real-time.
A year and a half later (much longer than I’d ever anticipated staying at my collections manager gig) I jumped at an opportunity to join the social media team at e-commerce startup Ideel.com. I would finally be working in a field that fascinated me and challenged what I knew about consumers and marketing each day. And guess what? All the freelance writing and social media work I’d done in my spare time turned out to be an asset in the interview process. I’d even unknowingly been following and regularly tweeting with my would-be boss on Twitter! I knew this role was the beginning of a career that was accurately aligned with my interests and talents.
What I discovered during this process was that the first step to success is assuming responsibility for your own happiness. Once I let go of the fear of what people would think of my opinions, experiences, and decisions, a feeling that I was closer to my purpose came over me.
“Don’t let the noise of other’s opinions drown out your own inner voice. Have the courage to follow your heart and intuition.” – Steve Jobs
If you’re reading this and experiencing the same feelings of disappointment and confusion that I did seven years ago, take the time to assess what you want from your career and life and write down three things you plan to do to get there. If it means leaving a job or taking a salary cut while you take the time to soul search, make that sacrifice but be responsible and prepared for the consequences. I worked at an unrelated job for 1.5 years while I hustled to get to the next stage of my career, and ended up living with my parents for 3 years (2 years longer than I planned). In the end, however, I know you’ll be happy you took the leap and will be that much closer to fulfilling your authentic purpose on this earth. My role at Ideel would later propel me into roles with Georgetown and Google and drive me to get my MBA.
As I learned from my experience, sometimes you have to take a step backward before you can move forward in pursuit of your goals.