Life Tip Tuesday

I’m pretty happy with my current job and career path, but it’s completely different from anything I had in mind growing up and even going through college. For my entire childhood, up until I turned 18, I knew I wanted a job working with animals. Whether it was going to school to become a veterinarian or being a groomer or vet tech, I was certain that was the field I would work in.

When I got a job working at a vet clinic, that opinion changed relatively quickly. While I still love animals, I realized I don’t particularly like working with them in situations where they’re often stressed out.

The only other obvious talent I could think of at the time that I had was writing. Of course, it’s difficult to get a well-paying writing job, so I was hesitant to pursue that.

I debated several different career paths after that. One that I started going to school for was dental hygiene, but the requirements to become certified (going to college full-time without financial support from my family) were not something I felt would be worth it. I ended up taking over the family business, which paid much better than any other job I could have gotten at the time, but also landed me in a lot of debt.

Running the family business wasn’t my passion, and I quickly became burnt out from working long hours by myself. I knew I didn’t want the same type of job forever, so I decided to make 3 lists.

On one, I listed all the things I was good at doing, regardless of whether I enjoyed them. On another, I made a list of what were non-negotiables for a career I would stick with such as a decent salary, low risk of developing chronic issues (like carpal tunnel syndrome), and daytime working hours to name a few. I also included things I was not good at on this list.

On the last list, I included everything I enjoyed doing, whether I was good at them or not. After creating those 3 lists, I began to look for the overlap between them.

My therapist pointed out that by me creating these lists, it showed my analytical thinking (a strength and talent). This led me to explore engineering for a college semester (which I enjoyed, but didn’t want to go into even more debt for), and ultimately led me to a product management-type role in the tech field.

While I can’t say I would do my work as a hobby for fun, I don’t dread going to work. I appreciate the challenges that force me to grow and learn new things, while having a good team to support me. I find it a satisfying way to put my talents to good use that I might otherwise use in an unproductive way in my personal life (overthinking small things).

Takeaways for Today:

• A career might not be something you enjoy or look forward to, but it’s still important to find one that complements your strengths

• Sometimes you’ll never know what you like until you try it; take a class at a community college or shadow someone in the field you’re interested in for a day

• It’s ok to change career paths, but never forget what you learned from your previous one

• Keep an open mind and be honest with yourself