Where will my path take me?

I really appreciated Bridget Thoreson’s view on one’s professional journey. I agree with her in that thinking of my career as climbing a ladder is stressful and it puts a lot of pressure myself. Thinking of my journey like a river makes the journey not seem so bad. This way of thinking shows you there is no wrong way to go, just different ways.

I liked when Thoreson said “When your professional destination is no longer a lonely perch but a thriving, wide-open ecosystem fed by the work of others to explore, every twist and turn in your journey changes from a liability to a strength.” The river analogy makes you think positively rather than negative thoughts. Sometimes when I run into an issue, I start to think only about the issue and not how I am going to conquer it. I don’t want to have to feel like I have to break glass ceilings on my career journey. I want to feel like any path I take is okay as long as I am still moving, growing, and learning.

I think the Kawa model is a great and easy way to see your journey in a different way. You don’t want to feel stuck and like there’s nowhere else to go. This model makes you understand that your journey has so many different paths it can take and I really like that. I am someone who, when they get stressed out it’s hard to think about anything else besides being stressed. The Kawa model is a perfect way to show people like me that challenges are all just a part of the journey and that everything will be okay.

Thinking about beginning my professional journey has become more and more intimidating the closer it has gotten but, this article reminded me that my journey is MY journey and nobody else’s. I can take it at my own pace and enjoy where my path takes me. I won’t follow a straight line from point A to B, because that’s not who I am. This website that Thoreson mentioned in her article, talks about how it is okay to not have one detailed and specific career goal but, to allow yourself to work at doing what you love and see where it takes you. This made me feel better about my journey and taught me that it’s okay to not have an exact idea of what I want to do. This opens up so many opportunities for me. Having an open mind in life will allow me to have experiences I would never get to have if I only wanted to take one specific path and nothing else. All that being said, I am exciting to begin my professional journey and see where it takes me!