I was talking with someone recently who has pivoted a lot to find what she likes. From the outside, it might look like wandering. But it isn't. It's very intentional exploration.
As I shared my own story with her, I saw the same pattern. My entire adult life has been a career changer's journey, just like hers. A journey to figure out who I really am, to accept it, and to build the skills I needed to actually live as that person. Luckily, most of those skills are learnable.
When I think about career change in my life, two moments come to mind. Leaving academia for tech. And leaving corporate to start my own business. Both took a few years of intense preparation.
But the story started much earlier.
In middle school, I wanted two things. To understand how the universe works. And to have my own business.
I went after the first one. Physics felt like me. I'm an introvert. I'm quiet. I like to think deeply.
The second one, I denied. I told myself it wasn't for me. I'm not social. I'm not good at selling. Business owners are outgoing and talkative. That's just not me.
Looking back, the desire never went away. I read business books for fun. When I moved into tech, I wasn't chasing technical depth in data science. I wanted to be close to the business. I wanted to make and support business decisions.
But I didn't make the connection at the time. I felt like I was zigzagging.
So my real career change didn't take two years, or five. It took over 30 years. From the day I first wanted my own business to the day I actually had it.
That made me see career change differently. It isn't one jump. It's the whole path. Exploring, testing, and slowly creating your way back toward something you wanted long ago.
Which means you're probably in the middle of yours right now. Even if it doesn't look like it.
So here's a question to sit with. What did you want before you talked yourself out of it?