In last week’s blog I shared about my dream to be a successful business woman on Wall Street. I had achieved Assistant Treasurer at JP Morgan and was 75% done with my MBA at Baruch College. Soon after, I decided to leave Wall Street. I left in the middle of a blazing career where I could have made a lot of money and had the ability to keep climbing the ladder. Why did I walk away?
Do what Others Say You Can’t
When I told my boss I was leaving my career to go back into the people helping profession, he nearly fell out of his chair. My dream to do something else came out of nowhere and the shock on his face reflected complete dismay. Why would I throw away a promising career on Wall Street to go back to a career in speech therapy? He kept telling me that I would never feel the prestige or receive the pay in that profession that I had on Wall Street. Why would I start from scratch having to go back to college to change careers? I would be 35 years old before I graduated. He had a million reasons why I shouldn’t and couldn’t, but two weeks later I walk out of Wall Street and never returned.
Have the Courage to Walk Away
We often feel our purpose in life will just drop out of the sky. Take it from me it doesn’t. The day I walked out of Wall Street, I was not sure exactly what would happen. It took every ounce of courage to walk away from the time and effort I had put into my Wall Street career. However, I could not stop thinking about the days when I felt the sheer joy of interning at the college clinic where I treated patients in speech therapy. I longed to help people again and my heart felt a gnawing emptiness without it.
When I walked away, I had no guarantee of success and it would be a financial hardship. I was anxious, but I believed other opportunities were waiting that could provide greater fulfillment. Your job in life is not to find a career. Your job in life is to find where you belong and where your heart can flourish. I enjoyed Wall Street, but it did not feel like home anymore.
Take Life’s Detours
I believe the answer to finding where you belong is to keep moving, exploring, and taking the forks in the road that stand in front of you. I do not believe there is just one purpose in your life. For me, life has been a journey. The hardest part about finding where you belong, is that it evolves as you change. Far too many people quit when a door closes, and in the process, miss so many opportunities. Life is never one door. There are so many doors but YOU must find the courage to open and walk through them! Dig deep and find that courage!
Share about your journey toward finding inclusion and the doors that have closed and open along the way.
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