In my life I have been and done many things: daughter, secretary, mother, wife, divorcée, freelancer, podcaster, janitor, babysitter, and more. (My first real job was a church janitor. It was two hours a week and paid me $5 an hour. I was 14 years old.)

We often refer to our growth through jobs as a career path, a journey, a life road, or a professional roadmap. I’ve been thinking about that a lot lately.

At 56 I didn’t expect to be underemployed and searching for a soft place to land, but here I am. Reinventing myself again. Or am I really discovering things within myself that I didn’t know were possible? Do we reinvent ourselves, or do we find strength, courage, and talents within us that were previously undiscovered?

Fear

Leap and the net will appear.
~John Burroughs

I’m afraid of heights. I don’t like being afraid of things, although some fears are healthy, to be sure. The thought of leaping with a net is daunting enough without thinking that there might not be anything to catch me should I fall. Heights are scary to me. Navigating lifework can feel like that. It’s scary, and there isn’t always someone or something to catch you should you fail/fall.

I understand that I can be in a situation where I am perfectly safe, and in zero danger of falling, but that doesn’t stop the fear from taking over. Here’s the thing, though, I can let fear stop me, or I can use it to motivate me.

I usually choose to let fear motivate instead of paralyze me. Within reason. (I have never had a desire to skydive or swim in a shark cage, and that’s okay.)

Letting fear motivate me has moved me into places and doing things I never could have imagined I could be and do. It’s really about being open to opportunities and saying “yes” even if I have almost no idea how to accomplish it.

Reinventing or Discovering?

I’d like to think that every time I either choose to do something different or find myself in a situation that requires it, I discover within myself the strength and fortitude to move forward, the ability to hone new skills, and the chutzpah to step out in the faith that the earth will rise beneath my feet, keeping me from falling. Maybe it is a discovery. Maybe it’s really a reinvention.

Or maybe it’s a combination of both.

I believe we can discover new things within ourselves. I also believe we can create our future, what we want to do and be, and move forward to achieve it.

Moving Forward

Like I talked about in Building a Casserole Career and Desire Paths, the possibilities are really endless, and the path to success (or even back to square one) may not yet or still exist, but that only means you have an opportunity to forge your own.

I’m working on that casserole career right now. I’m here at Post Status. I’m building personal revenue streams. I’m signing contracts for contract work.

I’m either reinventing myself or discovering I have capacity for more than I ever thought before. I’m really proud that I’m not sitting in inertia, afraid to move forward or even afraid to look back.

You Can Choose

I’ve spoken to many people over the last few months who have found themselves in similar situations to where I am now: laid off from their prior roles and floundering forward, trying to get their feet under themselves.

We each are different. We each have our own skills, confidence levels, outlooks, and opportunities different from one other.

We each have the ability to reinvent ourselves and discover what we can truly accomplish.

Helping

If you find yourself in a position to reach a hand out to someone who could use mentoring, advice, coaching, contract work, part-time or full-time work, or a shoulder and a cup of coffee, please help who, where, and when you can. Our community is immense, and our ability to heal and help others heal is endless.

I shall pass through this world but once. Any good, therefore, that I can do or any kindness I can show to any human being, let me do it now. Let me not defer it or neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again. 
~Stephen Grellet