Does this sound like you? Although you are making a decent living and have a certain amount of respect from your community, you find yourself feeling like something is missing in your job. You feel…. empty. If you were a 1950s housewife, Betty Friedan would say you suffered from the problem that has no name. But you aren’t a 1950s housewife. No, you are professional in a field such as accounting, real estate, banking, or law. It was a career choice that held promises of grandeur to the younger version of you. But now, you have been working in the field for 2, 7, 12 years, and you feel, well, disillusioned.
The reason I’m writing this article is to tell you that you do not have to be an intellectually or creatively unsatisfied schlub for the rest of your life. I’m writing to give you a modicum of encouragement to pursue your own happiness in life, because sometimes a modicum is all it takes.
Here is my story. After college, I went to law school, and enjoyed myself. I found the class discussions to be intellectually stimulating, and the cocktail parties to be fun. After law school, I passed the bar exam and dutifully became a lawyer, but not without a certain amount of creeping doubt in the pit of my stomach. I thought to myself, why not give it a chance? See if I like it. Three years of my life went by. While my legal career had its satisfying moments, I knew something was missing. It was as if I were living out somebody else’s life. It was as if I were an imposter, a spy posing as a lawyer.
For months I toyed with leaving, but fear kept me in my place. Then one day, the decision was made for me. I got a better job at a better law firm. A few weeks after taking that job, I was sure of it-it was time to get out of the law. I took my diplomas down from the wall knowing they would never be going back up. I was terrified to think of the repercussions of this. Now, looking back, I can’t imagine why I was so scared of simple change.
I found a part time teaching job and spent the next year researching and interviewing people about their jobs. I did a massive soul searching, as they say, though I was sure I had found my soul the day I left the firm. I spoke to people who gave me the inspiration to find a new career. One elderly gentleman was a fine artist, specializing in pottery and paintings. He told me he had been a farmer, a school guidance counselor, and an engineer before becoming an artist. The sheer length of life and its infinite possibilities overwhelmed me. I was truly inspired. Another man, this one a young guy in his mid-thirties, was a hairdresser for most of his adult life. He decided to go back to graduate school at 30 to become an interior designer. Now, at 40, he is working for a prestigious firm and has nothing to do with hair.
With the encouragement of these and other people, I decided, at the age of 30, to go back to graduate school. As it turns out, if you have an undergraduate degree, you can go to graduate school for almost anything you want. I chose my career in television production, and am now almost finished with my program. By overcoming the fear of change I have found myself on the brink of a brand new career. It is one that will allow me the creativity I was craving, but found missing in the law. And I’m only 33. If I were to follow in the footsteps of my elderly friend, I’d still have several career changes to go before retirement!
