A Poignant Eye-Opener

Greetings Friends --

I had lunch yesterday with a dear friend whom I had not seen in quite a while. We had a delightful time catching up on girl talk and it was so wonderful to see her. As lunch - and conversation - progressed, my friend (I'll call her Mary) shared with me that she had recently lost someone very special - a woman who had been her closest friend for over 20 years.

Mary told me that her friend had died suddenly at a relatively young age, after staying in a job she had hated for over 15 years. As Mary's eyes filled with tears, she told me how her friend had said, time and time again, how much she hated going to her job every day, that she knew her health was suffering, but that she was just trying to hang on till retirement and then she'd start to live her life again. Tragically, this woman - so incredibly "stuck" - never lived to see that day. She died at work, miserable, never having given herself permission to step outside of her own box.

As Mary said to me, "She was always too afraid to make a change. And it killed her." What power we give to fear; we put our lives and ourselves on hold because we're too afraid of the unknown and the "what if's." Well, all I can tell you is if we knew all the answers, the journey would be pretty boring. Taking risks can be downright fun if you approach the process with the right attitude.

I have lost count over the years of the individuals I've met who could very well end up like Mary's friend. It's heartbreaking to know how many people simply exist in their jobs, never knowing what it's like to feel happy and fulfilled in a livelihood that truly "fits."

As most of you know, my mission in life is to help others find their career passion. What a blessing it would be to know I may have saved someone's life in the process. I truly believe our livelihood should be a natural extension of who we are as human beings - not a job description we hate that we try to cram ourselves into. That's no way to live! In fact, that's not living at all. And I bet that's what Mary's friend would be telling all of us right now -- if she were still here.

Dr. Debra