1. When I burned down my first career, I was lost and took several different positions that did not lead anywhere. I didn’t know what to do with myself, and then I landed in the culinary world, and I felt pretty good there. I had good mentors. It took a while to find that spot, and I think it mostly had to do with ego. I learned that I could be good at other things. I took that career for 10 or 15 years until I felt I wasn’t growing and new things presented themselves. I have learned that I have the resilience and perseverance to do well. Sometimes the road is hard and difficult, but in some ways, that makes it worth it.
2. I think it was when my ego got involved that I lost my path. I am not saying I would still want to be in culinary. Still, there were times that I worked very hard, and then when nothing happened, I didn’t feel I was moving in the right direction, and I found something new—sometimes, starting at the very beginning, with little or no knowledge of what I was doing. Back then, I didn’t see myself losing my way; I think I see that better now. For me, moving ahead also means understanding that my path is twisted, with turns, steep inclines, slow walks downhill, and time to reflect. I was always moving fast, and I don’t think that helped.
3. This is an important part of my personal journey and something I must be mindful of. In recent months, I have wanted to compare myself to “where” I would be if I had not lost my first career. This is ridiculous. Or where I might be if “someone” had given me the “right break” in the culinary world. I once trained a young woman on how we set things up at Soldier Field, and she got promoted through the ranks, not me. This is not a healthy mindset. Today, I compare my poems, writings, photos, and paintings to others and ask, “Why doesn’t anyone like my stuff?”. This is when I need to remember that I need to keep working on my projects because they work for me first. It is in the creative things I do now I find joy. When shifting from comparison to self-awareness, I must reflect on a different aspect of my life. One is my growth and relationship to the world through my sobriety. The other is through what I learned in MSLCE; the path is not always a straight shot.
4. I am still working on this.
5. I feel like I am in this shifting moment in time. I am in a space where I don’t know what “career” is left for me, but I have options. Because I do not know where this will lead, I believe that I can navigate through the uncertainty by just trying to be thoughtful and aware of the surroundings. It is also a time to remember for me, that I might just very well be in the right place I don’t know it yet
1. When I burned down my first career, I was lost and took several different positions that did not lead anywhere. I didn’t know what to do with myself, and then I landed in the culinary world, and I felt pretty good there. I had good mentors. It took a while to find that spot, and I think it mostly had to do with ego. I learned that I could be good at other things. I took that career for 10 or 15 years until I felt I wasn’t growing and new things presented themselves. I have learned that I have the resilience and perseverance to do well. Sometimes the road is hard and difficult, but in some ways, that makes it worth it.
2. I think it was when my ego got involved that I lost my path. I am not saying I would still want to be in culinary. Still, there were times that I worked very hard, and then when nothing happened, I didn’t feel I was moving in the right direction, and I found something new—sometimes, starting at the very beginning, with little or no knowledge of what I was doing. Back then, I didn’t see myself losing my way; I think I see that better now. For me, moving ahead also means understanding that my path is twisted, with turns, steep inclines, slow walks downhill, and time to reflect. I was always moving fast, and I don’t think that helped.
3. This is an important part of my personal journey and something I must be mindful of. In recent months, I have wanted to compare myself to “where” I would be if I had not lost my first career. This is ridiculous. Or where I might be if “someone” had given me the “right break” in the culinary world. I once trained a young woman on how we set things up at Soldier Field, and she got promoted through the ranks, not me. This is not a healthy mindset. Today, I compare my poems, writings, photos, and paintings to others and ask, “Why doesn’t anyone like my stuff?”. This is when I need to remember that I need to keep working on my projects because they work for me first. It is in the creative things I do now I find joy. When shifting from comparison to self-awareness, I must reflect on a different aspect of my life. One is my growth and relationship to the world through my sobriety. The other is through what I learned in MSLCE; the path is not always a straight shot.
4. I am still working on this.
5. I feel like I am in this shifting moment in time. I am in a space where I don’t know what “career” is left for me, but I have options. Because I do not know where this will lead, I believe that I can navigate through the uncertainty by just trying to be thoughtful and aware of the surroundings. It is also a time to remember for me, that I might just very well be in the right place I don’t know it yet
So many great reminders here! Thank you as always for sharing your wisdom