Finding Footing
This Is Us is one of my favorite shows. No shame, I literally sob while watching every week. During last week’s episode, the conversation around “following a path” struck a cord with me. Currently evaluating what the next step on my own journey will be, it stuck, and I found myself thinking through the ups, downs, and unexpected turns so far while driving around this past weekend.
For a little back-story, when I met and married my [amazing] husband, I knew there would be sacrifices and adjustments to what I was used to due to his profession. I mean, moving every couple of years and all that comes with what he does is not exactly conducive to progressing in one job, in one city, at one company, for years, for example. I would of course not change a thing, but it definitely forced me to think about the path that I was creating for myself in a way that I hadn’t before.
The face of this change gave me a push to get in touch with my deepest aspirations and think through all of the things that I truly wanted, whether they were a part of my journey yet or not, including… writing, inspiring others to pursue their happiest lives (hello, life coach hopes), volunteering at local hospitals to support families going through a hard time, spending all kinds of time with family and friends, starting my own family, traveling near and far, and so much more. I felt empowered and supported to leap and pursue these avenues, and, to that end, I don’t know if I would’ve been able to get in touch with these passions if I hadn’t found myself in this scenario. To be cliché for a hot minute, it had me feeling like the world is my oyster again.
That said, while it was exciting to embrace the path that I wanted to create, is was also terrifying. For example, progressing on the original career path that I had always been on was a huge part of my identity, and it was scary to think about detouring with the aforementioned, at least for a little bit. And with that, I had to assess where my “fear to leap” was coming from, too. Did it stem from the excitement of the unknown, or did it come from what I thought would disappoint others?
Which leads to… Are we following the path that we want or the one we think others want us to be on? Just as we evaluate everything else, is our path bringing out the best in us, the worst in us, or are we on autopilot? Food for thought.
There is no path like our own is what I came to when I worked through the above questions. There hasn’t been one before, and there will never be one again. It doesn’t matter if your personal passion and/or professional paths change a million times or if you find a direct route early on. You have the power to write your journey in your own time and however makes sense for you.
Your path is about uncovering all of the talent that you, only uniquely you, have to offer and chasing those callings, y’all! We all end up where we’re meant to be one way or another, however we pave the way. That’s not to say we don’t have to put in any work, take some detours, fix some potholes, or otherwise, but to say that we all have a purpose that we find when we look inside of ourselves, decide to create the path that we want, and be the person that we want to be.
Sometimes it takes a push we can’t control, and sometimes we find our footing naturally all on our own. What’s important is that we enjoy the journey. Curveballs, highs, lows, and all. After all, it’s about the journey, not the destination.❤️