stay the course, magic will follow
Do you want something that’s contradictory to popular opinion or that your family doesn’t understand?
Maybe you want to ditch the family business and become a musician - even though that’s frowned up on and your parents keep telling you that you’ll have to go back to university and study business.
Maybe you’re taking a non-conventional career path, a creative path but part of you feels like you should be doing something steady. Account, business, finance, law.
Maybe you’re just not married yet and you’re feeling pressure to get married.
Maybe you’re not sure where your life is heading right now but you’ve quit a corporate job, jumped out of a university degree and seeing what comes up.
I know how scary it can feel. How out at sea and lost it can feel. We are hardwired to seek external approval. We want to fit in with the tribe, we want our peers, parents and significant others to be proud of us, to be able to rely on us. We want to show up in the world in a way that’s not only authentic but empowered. A way that is truly ours.
I get it, because I’ve been there. As a straight A student in school I felt really pressured to study something ‘prestigious’ at university. I ended up in Law school, not out of any passion for the law but because I thought I should.
When I eventually jumped ship into a Communications degree (majoring in journalism and writing, tipping my hat to my dreams and my soul) I felt extremely misunderstood. In fact, I still don’t think my parents know what degree I graduated with despite them being at the graduation ceremony.
After uni, instead of jumping straight into a written journalism career I went backpacking. I was on a mission. I was seeking something else, something other, something more than the life that had been sold to me. (You know the 9-5, the paycheck, the monotonous day to day). I just, didn’t know what that was. Every time I booked a ticket to a new country I physically made myself sick (I was bed ridden for two weeks before I left Australia for New Zealand) with worry, fear and doubt.
What am I doing?
What will everyone think?
Who cares what they think? Who even are they? But I do! I do care.
What’s my plan?
What will become of me?
What if I end up old and alone, broke?
What if I never have a career? Never make any money?
My bestfriend is about to receive her Masters Degree and owns a property already? Shouldn’t I be doing that?
It was a full on freak-out-fest in my mind.
Fast forward 10 years and I wouldn’t change a single thing. I know every single misstep and every single step in the right direction was divine. I wouldn’t be the person I am. I wouldn’t have the boyfriend I do, live where I do, write what I do with such passion, have such beautiful clients or big dreams if my life hadn’t flowed the way it had.
Yes, it mightn’t be linear.
Yes it’s not the life most of my peers are living.
Yes it’s missing a few of the common tropes of modern life but you know what?
It’s mine. It lights me up.
I wake up every day excited for what I do, how I do it and who I do it with.
I share my story because I know going against the grain can feel scary and hard. It can be daunting and there are many times you want to scream and turn back for the path more traveled. The path that others are walking.
I’m just here to remind you to stay the course. Follow your heart and I promise the path will unfold for you in the most magical of ways. Go against the grain, stay true to you.
Keep being bold,
Katrina