In the past several months, I’ve worked with a great number of clients who have found themselves at what seems to be a complete dead-end professionally. Avenues they were fully passionate about pursuing (and would have allowed for successful employment only a year ago) have dried up, with precious few opportunities remaining, for the time being. As we know, the world has changed.
For example, one of my clients reinvented herself completely over the past several years, from market research director to science teacher, only to find there are simply no jobs available in her geographic region. Another client is crystal clear that she wants to write as a profession, but feels that starting up now as a freelance writer, given the implosion of the publishing world as we know it, would be a recipe for disaster.
What should we do when the path we desperately long to pursue is blockaded? I say we turn a corner, take a fork in the road, and re-direct — ultimately find a revised path that allows you to succeed in these times, while honoring your authentic values. There isn’t only one job in the world that will make you happy, or one career path (I feel this is true about choosing a mate as well – there isn’t just one person with whom you could build a happy, fulfilled life.)
So often, we become overly-attached to what we think will make us happy or get us out of our misery, and we miss the (rescue) boat completely. What’s that story, about the man who finds himself in a flood, with water covering his home? I think it goes something like this…
As the flood occurred, the man said to himself, “I know God will save me. I won’t worry.” But as the water rose, things become dire. First, someone offers the man a hand to take him to higher ground, but the man says, “No thanks, I’m waiting for God to save me.” As the water flooded his home, a group in a rowboat came by, and shouted, “Come on, come in the boat with us and be saved!” The man said, “No thank you, I’m waiting for God to save me.” A day later, as the man clung to the roof of his house, a helicopter came to save him. He yelled to the pilot, “No thank you, I’m waiting for God to save me.” The man drowned.
When he saw God in heaven, he said, “Why didn’t you save me??” God replied, “I sent three forms of rescue…it was up to you to take them.”
So the question is…what forms of rescue can you find that will keep your heart and soul intact while also keep you afloat, financially, emotionally, and spiritually? Open your heart and mind to new avenues, and they will become apparent.
What rescue options have you pursued lately, and how have they worked out?
