{"id":85012,"date":"2022-04-05T21:52:53","date_gmt":"2022-04-05T19:52:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cowomen.com\/?p=85012"},"modified":"2022-04-05T21:52:53","modified_gmt":"2022-04-05T19:52:53","slug":"pursuing-your-career-intuition-not-a-vision","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cowomen.com\/de\/pursuing-your-career-intuition-not-a-vision\/","title":{"rendered":"Pursuing your career intuition, not a vision"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sometimes I feel like I am simultaneously the most confident and the most insecure person on the planet.\u00a0<\/strong><\/h3>\n

I very much know myself and what I enjoy, and what works for me as an employee and student. But what I don\u2019t know is what the expectations really are for me\u00a0<\/span>at this time<\/span>. I can raise myself up quickly with my successes: I\u2019ve lived and worked in three countries before I have even earned my university degree! But looking at other people around me so easily tears me down.
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\"My
My acceptance into the University of Washington<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I have always harbored this jealousy for people who are engineers, carpenters, or lawyers.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0I am a business major, which doesn\u2019t necessarily translate into a direct career at any certain type of company. However, if you study engineering, I think it\u2019s safe to assume you\u2019re going to be an engineer.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0I am jealous of stability<\/span><\/span>– of people who have their careers planned out<\/span><\/span>. I\u2019m so controlled by my whim for\u00a0<\/span><\/span>more\u00a0<\/span><\/span>that I direct myself towards more ambiguous, albeit exciting, paths. I compare myself to the people on my Facebook page who are buying homes, getting promoted, or getting engaged. My desire for an unconventional life<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span>has left me pursuing a future that follows my career intuition but isn\u2019t stable. What is a career intuition? It means<\/span><\/span> I don’t have a vision of what my future career will be but I guide my professional decisions based on what feels good to me.<\/span><\/p>\n

I’ve never been one of those girls who dreamed of a certain career.<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

The normalcy of a 9-5 in a cubicle is something I’m unable to be content with. I throw myself into situations that are at first stressful. Moving to a new country: stressful. Focusing my studies on something that doesn’t align with a set career: stressful. Not knowing what the next ten years of my life will look like: stressful. Literally even navigating a grocery store in a foreign country: surprisingly<\/span> stressful. I am dedicating a crucial time of my life to pursuing my \u2018wants\u2019 and maybe not my \u2018needs.\u2019 That I’m dedicating a foundational part of my life to exploring, and in twenty years I will still be struggling at a minimum wage job scares me.<\/span> But I know that right now, I want to explore the world and take full advantage of my youth while I don’t have bills or other large responsibilities.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Perks
Livin’ it up on a weekend trip to Copenhagen while studying abroad in Edinburgh, Scotland<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

There is a huge risk in pursuing your passions over what is practical.<\/span> And pursuing a future based on intuition, not a vision. But what is greater than my jealousy of other people\u2019s stability and \u201cconventional\u201d paths, is my fear of regretting not pursuing a future that allows me to travel all over the world and makes me excited to go into work every morning (whatever that work may be). This career hasn’t manifested itself into a specific image, or vision of the future. But I do know what feels right, so I will follow my career intuition to guide me along in my decision-making. But, that doesn’t mean I can’t put in some work now.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

So<\/span><\/b> what to do about it?<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

First of all<\/span>: yes, many people on\u00a0<\/span>Facebook<\/span> are getting engaged and promoted, but some of my \u201cfriends\u201d are also posting about going to jail and\/or are trolls who comment negativity on anything they can find. So, I probably shouldn\u2019t rely on Facebook as a marker of success<\/a>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I also am strategic about\u00a0<\/span>all of<\/span> my \u201cwhims.\u201d Yeah, I am packed up and moved to a foreign country for two months, but it is for an internship where I\u2019m gaining valuable work experience. There is tact in <\/span>all of<\/span>\u00a0my adventures and decisions.\u00a0<\/span>So<\/span> you\u2019ll never see me moving to Thailand without a job already arranged or university classes to be taken (some people can afford to do this, but sadly, not I). You can\u00a0definitely travel\u00a0and follow your dreams and not be totally irresponsible about it.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Following
My first internship in Berlin, Germany at CoWomen<\/a> with fellow interns Adrian and Dominique!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I also make sure that every work experience I gain is diverse, yet transferable. I don\u2019t know what career(s) I\u2019ll want to pursue in the future. And that\u2019s okay! But it\u2019s not a reason to not be getting work experience. There is so much value in dedicating yourself to a job or internship. So even if it doesn\u2019t directly correlate to something I want to do in the future, I am proving that I am reliable, hardworking, and flexible!<\/span> Plus, some extra money doesn’t hurt. I worked two jobs in the summer of 2018 to finance my study abroad trip to Edinburgh, Scotland.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

And finally, it really doesn’t help being an asshole to yourself. I\u2019m a strong believer in positive reinforcement and not punishments. All in all, every experience, good or bad, is a learning experience.\u00a0<\/span>So<\/span>\u00a0if something happen<\/span>s<\/span> that I don\u2019t like, it\u2019s getting mentally categorized as, \u201cyep, never doing that again\u201d and moving on, and not, \u201comg, I’m a huge failure.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

So if you, like me, sometimes feel like there isn’t a clear goal you’re pursuing, keep in mind that it’s better to <\/span>actually attempt<\/span> to pursue happiness than being complacent for the sake of living a \u201cnormal\u201d life. And it’s okay to not have a set vision of what your future will look like. Remain malleable in your decisions, be flexible, and follow your career intuition on what seems like smart decisions for you<\/em>, and not for other people.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sometimes I feel like I am simultaneously the most confident and the most insecure person on the planet.\u00a0 I very […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":78520,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[494],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-85012","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-unkategorisiert"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cowomen.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85012","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cowomen.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cowomen.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cowomen.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cowomen.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=85012"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/cowomen.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85012\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":85030,"href":"https:\/\/cowomen.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85012\/revisions\/85030"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cowomen.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/78520"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cowomen.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85012"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cowomen.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=85012"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cowomen.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=85012"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}