Everything starts small

… maybe the trick is just to start

This process of seriously looking into your prospects is ALOT. The mental weight of it and the actual time and effort to carry it out is no small thing.

I’m not sure where you’re at when you’re attempting this all but for me, I was still very much working my first career and keeping up appearances at work. And it took pretty much everything out of me.

All I wanted to do when I got home after work was sit and be a potato. Read something or doom scroll, whatever it was that let me escape from feeling this inner incongruity.

For now, the reality is you gotta keep working your job. There are bills and all the life bullshit, I get it.

So here’s the way I tried to mentally help myself slog through it.

Just start. Anything, one thing at minimum each week. (If you’re feeling ambitious, set a shorter time frame.)

To put the minimal amount of stress on myself, that one thing can be anything.

Set up a document to house your notes. One thing, check.

Send an email to a random friend of a friend to ask if they’re willing to chat about their career you’re interested in. One thing, check.

Read the ‘prospective students’ page for a program you’re interested in. One thing, check.

Then when I did the one thing per week, I congratulated myself and then wallowed guilt-free in whatever thing I choose to get through that week. If I was feeling better that week, I did two things and felt doubly good about it.

It’s slow progress, but it’s momentum, and that is what matters in this stupid career uncertainty shit. We gotta play the long game.

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-S