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Dec 27
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Jenn Walker Wall's avatar

We do learn a lot from the journey! I have so many thoughts on this feedback. How did you decide to move forward?

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Lucas Barber's avatar

As Jung would put it: Circumambulating the Self

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Toyah is Thinking + Feeling ♥'s avatar

I had a 10 year plan, not one step in that plan went to plan over those 10 years. Life learnings when you think intellectually, spiritually and with ambition (and a splash of naïveté).

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nicole scimia's avatar

Wow, I needed to read this today ❤️

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....'s avatar

“If they had stayed they might have progressed their career, gained a promotion, received a big end of year bonus or increased revenue by 50%.

But what of their soul?” —— Beautifully put.

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gigiirl's avatar

This speaks directly to me. I'm currently trying living this. Left a loveless 4 year relationship, spontaneously quit not one but two jobs, reconnected with myself and felt more lost than ever and now I'm pouring my heart out on here without expectations or a routine. While I can't seem to find my balance, something keeps telling me–eventually, I'll be alright.

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A.O. Homorodean's avatar

Plans often crumble when something unexpected comes your way. At least those who follow nonlinear paths have a better change to enjoy life, and not just focus on life draining careers.

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Holden Caulfield's avatar

The balance is not allowing kids fall off the cliff.

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Marissa Subia's avatar

Nice article--simply and meaningfully put. I needed this 😊.

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Cathy Stapleton's avatar

If only being Spiritually inclined was a career path

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Cathy Stapleton's avatar

If only being Spiritually inclined was a career path

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Jenn Walker Wall's avatar

I make it part of all my jobs, for better or worse!

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Cathy Stapleton's avatar

We have no choice 😂

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Renni Grier's avatar

my main issues have always come from trying to impose a rigid order on my life even though it was totally at odds to me spiritually. i felt it—i tried to conform anyway.

now i’m on a path to be in union with God—building a business that lets me do that and i don’t even know how it will look, i just know that is the way i need to go.

sometimes i want to retreat into nature like the desert mothers of old—it’s an interesting way of living!

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Cristi Baskett's avatar

It feels good to be seen and understood! This was me in undergrad. Had the job lined up months before graduation. 2 weeks in, I was dying to quit lol and over the next decade I quit so many jobs, took breaks, jumped back in, and I’m in the midst of a 4th career pivot and in grad school now! I sometimes get discouraged when I think about how much further I could be but then I remember how much I’ve learned and still am.

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Andrew Lynch's avatar

I really appreciate this perspective. Spiritual pressure is essential for an intuitive approach. It's not easy to progress that way when you're still working from a list (tasks) that must get done, but the pressure helps us toss the list aside so we can engage in a way that brings the project to a logical completion in time.

I think the list is still useful, but the linear path is not the best way to move through a project, or as you suggest, a career. Ultimately there is a linearity to it, but it's almost never as one would expect. I wonder if it's by design that we cannot see so far into the future.

It's reassuring that going backwards is still progress, and often necessary. It alleviates the anxiety that comes from the linear mind and a cognitive approach to "work".

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Colbyn Wadman's avatar

On a tangent, nowadays there needs to be more emphasis on community building. Especially from such people.

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Joshua Mathias's avatar

I felt I had to check out this article because I have a very nonlinear career path now, yet some aspects are consistent? I'm a machine learning engineer and computational linguist, tech entrepreneur, that had a spiritual awakening through science and now getting a PhD in Transpersonal Psychology. And then using machine learning in a nonprofit I started to solve spiritual questions and psychology, plus making my long-term career coaching psychic abilities. But all the skills I gained before seem to combine in a new direction. If that was hard to read, I guess that's the point. :P

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