Plot Twist: When Being Flaky is a Good Thing

I’ve been doing a lot of work on myself lately. By that I mean, thinking a lot about where I want to be, what I want to do, how I’m going to get there. I’ve had more than a few a-ha moments, but one that I had while finally putting pen to paper (okay, actually fingers to keyboard) on my outline for that e-book I’ve wanted to write forever was that I would never have gotten HERE had I not taken the long and winding path that now lays behind me. Every job I got, and the ones I walked away from, put me one step closer to this place I stand now. Each one was important in that I learned something new… sometimes it was that my boss was a real bitch… other times it was that I could pull through on a huge project just in the nick of time. My life has definitely been a series of changes, some welcome, some not so much. But like that saying goes, if something doesn’t go right, just yell PLOT TWIST and keep moving forward.

I’ve yelled PLOT TWIST a lot in my life (not literally… that would be weird when you’re standing on the street holding the contents of your desk in a Banker’s Box). I’m talking about waking up and realizing that those people who I always thought had no focus, the ones that moved around from job to job every few months or so, really were probably the smart ones, the ones who got to their destination faster than the rest of us. They knew that a job wasn’t right for them, or a city wasn’t where they were supposed to remain their entire lives. They picked up (yelled PLOT TWIST) and moved on… while the rest of us were slaving away at a job we hated for a paycheck that we cringed at every two weeks. While it took most of us a lifetime to figure out what we were meant to do, it took them much faster because they were skating by the jobs and experiences that they knew they weren’t good at or that made them happy.

Moving around turns out to be kind of a good thing.

I changed jobs often when I was younger. I worked for a cosmetic company, I answered phones, I typed up interior design specifications, I decorated, I purchased, I traveled, I worked for a lawyer, I had my own business… several of them. I blogged.

All those paths led me here. I realized I didn’t love interior design. Oh, I loved doing it for my own home, just didn’t like doing it for someone else. I realized I wasn’t very good at answering phones (go ahead… call me… I won’t answer). I hated working for the lawyer. I don’t like being told what to do. My family can vouch for that.

My point is that it took me 50 years to figure it out. I’m pretty sure this isn’t the end of my path. I still see it stretching out before me. But I think I’m in a good place right now. I’m going to move off to the side for a little while and see what this place I’m in is all about. Maybe I’ll get back on the path and see what else lies ahead. Maybe this will be my happy spot. I know for sure I’m not heading backwards.

So to all you who have no idea what you want to do and your friends and family are wondering why you flip flop around so much… just tell them your story has lots of twists and turns and each step you make is getting you to the end of the story sooner.

Yell PLOT TWIST and move on.