I saw a post on LinkedIn today as I was browsing for jobs about a guy who was going through a career transition and signed up for a 6 month career transition workshop to aid him through the process. He said it was helpful because it “flushed out a lot of the noise in [his] head so that [he] could see more clearly what really matters to [him] and what [he’s] good at, separate from advertising.” He goes on to say that he “never wanted to be good at advertising because he just doesn’t care about it,” and that he used to believe “the only reason why he was ever successful in the advertising business was because he hates it. But he always liked the people – especially the ones who were a little off. And agencies were full of them – some more so than others.”
I identify with all of it, especially the bit about liking the people. I never set out to be in post-production. I was a wide eyed girl fresh out of college who was bitten by the entertainment bug and ended up in a subsection of it where I felt at home amongst all the weirdos of post. I tried to work in music, something that I was passionate about at the time. But through various circumstances, one being lying about where I lived which was an hour away at my parents house, I ended up here. I started from the bottom and now the whole team frickin’ here.
So, similarly to this guy on LinkedIn, I am embarking on a quest to find myself in the hopes that it will lead me to happiness and fulfillment in my next role. Who was I and what really matters to me, outside of post-production? It’s taken me 3 months off of work to finally emerge and be ready to look at myself in the mirror and actually want to find the answer to that question. I’m not sure I wanted to change before. There is something so familiar about all of it. But that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s right for me anymore. And while it WOULD BE NICE to make some money while going through this transition, I think I’m going to have to surrender to the fact that it might take me a little longer than the 3 months I set aside to figure out where I want to go and who I want to be.
So, I think the first step is mining my old journals. Who was I, prior to my life in post? Who did I want to be? What happened? If I look back, it’s so clear that I stopped writing mere weeks after I started in this business. It really can, and did, consume my life. So, do I want to be there again? Do I want to write? Is there a way to document my transitional period on the tiktoks or something and be a content creator? IS THAT WHAT I’M SUPPOSED TO BECOME?!
I’m ready, though, for whatever it is. To stop living in fear. To take the next step. Which today, is writing and publishing this blog for the first time in what, a year and a half? (where does the time go).
Here’s to 2023 and me….
