How I started again when my career hit the rocks
Having worked in the nonprofit space for many years, many people who knew me assumed that I was at the top of my career. “You must be having the time of your life!” most of them declared confidently. Who wouldn’t think that? An occasional appearance in the news, frequent media appearances where I generously shared my opinions on national and local issues as well as numerous work-related travels. You see, where I come from, a flight is considered a luxurious way to travel and only the rich can afford it. So if you were ever on a flight, you were considered classy and rich. As unbelievable as it may seem, in my locality and maybe in the entire country, most people have never been within 30 feet of an aeroplane. Even a stowaway automatically gained celebrity status. So when I fly several times a year for work, anyone who discovered would rank me among the elites. So like many others like me, I rarely take pictures in planes and almost never shared them on social media. No one cared that I might be broke and make numerous flights yearly. So yes, so much was happening in the work life that people perceived me as having a successful life. The only problem was that I did not share that feeling. I just never felt that way.
I felt lost and confused most of the time. Don’t get me wrong, I am good at the job I did and enjoyed doing it. But I just didn’t feel like I was making progress at all. I had accomplished so much and felt like I hit rock bottom. I could not see anything more to do that would excite me. It was not the first time this was happening. I have felt this way in the past but after discovering a new training or project, I readjusted but at this time, nothing was working. Then I learnt a very important lesson. I will share that with you in this post shortly and also talk some more about it in future writeups.
The lesson was this, “If you hit rock bottom, then become the rock you were meant to be”. Your floating days may be over for good. Accept it. Now, I have not suggested that you should accept every bad situation in your life as normal. I know there may be some individuals who are seeking reinforcement on an ill-conceived decision to quit on life, but this is not that post. If consistently, you can no longer perform optimally in a role and every effort you have made to fix it fails, then move on.
Most times, the struggle to return to an ideal imagery of who we feel we should be keeps us struggling. What I needed was to stop struggling and accept my new reality. I felt done and that was exactly what saved me. I walked away. If you feel done, then allow yourself to be. It may not be the easiest decision to make but someday, you will thank yourself for going all the way.
To learn more on how to keep pushing when the chips are down, I will share with you some books that have helped me pick up the pieces and keep going when the chips are down. Get yourself a copy and keep the career growth consistent. In no particular order, here are my top 10 picks.
