Sure you can!
You’ve done it before and didn’t realize it. I know I have . . . many times, in fact.
Think about it . . .
Every time you changed jobs, every time you moved to a new home, a new location, or took a class.
Each of those decisions started a new path for you or reinforced a path you were already on. After all, our lives are driven by the decisions we make.
And it’s those decisions that create our paths.
Let me share a quick story with you.
This is my story about creating the paths I chose to walk. I’m sharing it to help give you some perspective and to open a door that might also open your mind so you can take a look at how far you’ve come along your own journey. Most people don’t realize the full scope of what they’ve done . . . until they look back at their lives. I want all of you to see how important you’ve been so far in order to go further than you might have thought you could . . . or would.
I started my working years at a retail women’s clothing store called The Tall Girls Shop. The chain of stores has been closed for a few decades now, but working there gave me confidence in my abilities to forge relationships and sell things at the same time.
It didn’t take long for me to learn that it was the relationship I had with my customers that actually sold the clothes . . . but I thoroughly enjoyed meeting so many new people while I was working there.
However, after a little over three years I wanted something more out of life and I was given the opportunity to work for a local bank. It meant better money, benefits for the first time in my life, plus a pension and 401k plan, which I knew nothing about at that point.
All I cared about back then was earning more money and making my family proud. So I went for it. It turned out to be a good decision, too, because I continued to move up the ladder from teller to liaison between the bank and larger accounts, which were all businesses. Throughout my seventeen years of working there many additional changes occurred in my life, including my relocation to a new state for the company I now worked for, (which had bought out the division of the bank I had been working for previously).
Changes Open Doors To New Paths
So my husband and I pulled up stakes and moved.
Once we were settled in the new state and our new home, I continued to work while my husband quickly found employment. By the time my seventeen years with the financial company had come to an end I had also worked part-time as the Animal Control Officer in my town for over 5 years, bred and trained Samoyeds with my husband, created a few acres of paths in the woods on our property, and written and published 4 novels. (I now have 7 novels in print.) I also became a Reiki master and Christian minister during those years.
All of these new interests created more “paths” that I followed at the same time I was working full-time. Many of them I still follow to this day.
It can be done! It’s not always easy, nor is it always comfortable, but we push on, make decisions, and get through it until we’re comfortable again.
Because I experienced how time changes things, but life continues to move forward requiring new decisions along the way, I ended up working in different industries over the next ten years . . . all of which included marketing and sales for different companies.
But corporate politics existed and kept chasing me away . . .
Until I eventually landed back in the financial sector where I enjoyed eight years of feeling good about the work I did.
Except for one thing . . . I never could get away from the politics.
Finally, after 25 years since my husband and I relocated, and after numerous changes in our lives, it reached a point where I had to take a good look at my life. My husband’s job had been stable for over 18 years, but mine hadn’t. I had to be honest with myself and decide what made me most happy, comfortable, and could still bring money into the house, especially now that I had to file for disability, (another change that occurred in my life).
And the answer fell into my lap.
Dealing with people . . . and helping them.
For me, the most fulfilling experiences I’ve had were the times I was able to help people in different ways. The chance to teach them ways to help themselves and show them what was available in the world to help make their lives a little better than they currently were.
Then along came copywriting!! A sector that gave me the freedom to pursue my passion of writing and helping people through the words I write.
Finally, this is where I’m at now, but I know this might change at some point, too. Any new change will simply be a chance to choose a new path to walk . . . and the number of potential paths is endless. We all have different experiences, different interests, and different hobbies. I have them, too! Any one of those can lead to a new and exciting path to walk.
What do you think your next decision might be about?
What have you been dreaming about for the last month, year, or more?
Whatever it might be, take a look at whichever path is most important to you and ask yourself how close you are to walking that path. Figure out if there’s anything else you need to do to get there . . . take the next steps that you already know are needed to get you closer to that goal.
Most importantly . . . don’t let any of it frighten you away.