How to Change Careers When You’re Lost

When you don’t know what you want to do next, it can be challenging to leave what you’re currently doing. I know the feeling. It can feel suffocating and frustrating. Perhaps you’re on a search to find your purpose here in this lifetime. Or perhaps you have a big dream and don’t know where to start. Or perhaps you have no clue where to even start looking for what’s next. 

Or maybe you have a sense of a new step you could take, but the fear of making the change is paralyzing. This could be a fear of failure, a fear of success, a fear of going broke, a fear of not being able to support your family, a fear of not being enough, of not having the right qualifications, etc. 

I was paralyzed in my corporate job for over a year from 2009 to 2010. I had been following the path I was told I should follow: earning a tech degree and going into the tech field where all the money was. From the moment I told my guidance counselor I wanted to be an archaeologist or anthropologist and he told me that was too risky, I had chosen to ignore my Truth and give my Power away. 

I listened to him and believed the limitations he put on me: of how slim the chances were of me being successful in that field. And so I chose the safe path. I chose the known path. The predictable path. I chose the path that my mind could be on board with. 

I gave my power away in exchange for a promise of safety by society. 

And perhaps, somewhere along the way, you did something similar. In working with hundreds of clients over the years, this seems to be a common theme. It’s what we’re all taught when we’re young: to fall in line, to suppress our fullest expression, and to follow the path laid before us to guarantee our safety. 

You were taught that you can’t create safety for yourself from your own Truth. 

You were taught to ignore the truth of your body, heart, and instincts. You were taught to only do what’s logical, therefore learning to rely on society for safety. 

But the Truth is you can create your own safety each and every day by following YOUR unique path. By listening to the wisdom of YOUR body, heart, and intuition. 

The path of following that wisdom won’t look safe to the mind. It won’t be predictable or logical. 

You won’t know all the steps ahead of time. 

You won’t always know how to prepare for what’s next. 

You won’t always have the “qualifications” society makes you think you need. 

And that’s what leads to the feeling of being “lost”.

And the most important point of this post is that feeling a bit “lost” is a really good thing. To let yourself “not know” for a while. Because the path of your Truth, of your heart, of your deep inner wisdom is one of “not knowing”.

It’s beyond the mind and beyond logic. 

You, and all humans, are actually designed to “not know”. Let the very wisdom you were told to suppress as a kid guide you like a compass one step at a time. And then to use your powerful mind to solve the problems along the path. So I’m inviting you to ponder: How big is your mind thinking? How much information does your mind think it needs to know before you can make a change?

I’m inviting you to ponder that perhaps, feeling “lost” isn’t the problem. It’s the solution. 

It was for me. Let me share how this played out in my journey.

In 2010. When I left corporate, I had no idea what my purpose was. I didn’t know what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. All I knew was I didn’t want to be in the corporate setting anymore. I had been paralyzed for a year before quitting trying to create an online business to replace my income, so I could feel safe. I had been paralyzed trying to figure out the full plan before I left, so I could feel safe. Until one day, it was too much and I decided to leave. 

And I started to create my own safety one step at a time, without knowing how.

While I didn’t know what my purpose was, I knew a few things I loved to do. And so I shifted my focus from figuring out my purpose to having a new guiding question: “How can I make as much money as I was making in corporate doing work I loved?”

And two of the things I loved the most were teaching and animals. So I started a dog training business, got a job working part time as a veterinary assistant, started working at a doggy daycare, started a tutoring business, got a job teaching a class in a university (which I didn’t technically have the right “qualification” for but I applied and they needed help. So I got it.), and started working in a group home for handicapable men in wheelchairs overnight. 

With 4 jobs and 2 businesses, I replaced my corporate income doing work I loved in just 6 months. And I LOVED all of my work! I loved the adventure, the passion, and the purpose I felt by supporting people and animals in this way. Yet I knew that none of those jobs were going to be my purpose for my whole life.

And that’s when it hit me: Purpose isn’t something that can be found in a book or by taking a course or going to a retreat. It emerges in each moment. Purpose is about who you’re BEING and what happens THROUGH you as a result. 

Instead of following my mind, I had started to follow my Heart and follow the fun.

And this is my next invitation for you. Instead of following the logic, follow the fun. Let yourself not know exactly how it’s all going to work out, or even what your purpose is. Because the path of your Truth often isn’t a linear one. 

When you take that step outside of the the nice comfortable bubble you built for yourself where you know exactly what’s going to happen even if you don’t like what’s happening (your comfort zone)…. when you take that first small step into the unknown where things are more uncomfortable (because you suddenly don’t know what’s going to happen) but much more exciting and fun, something really important happens. 

You now have access to a whole network of people and opportunities you didn’t have access to in your comfort zone. And these people and opportunities will guide you to the next small step. 

And please take a moment to notice how I’m emphasizing small steps. The mind will try to come up with a big plan and know all the steps before you move. But even if you tried to take this big step outside your comfort zone, it would be too much for your nervous system. This is NOT about taking a big leap. I do not recommend taking a big leap. I recommend taking a step that is uncomfortable yet exciting, just outside your comfort zone.

In 2010, my big plan was to volunteer full time in Africa while earning an online income. Yet, that plan had me paralyzed for a year trying to start the online business to get there. So, instead, I chose a small step: my dog training business. 

As part of that small step, I joined an animal behavior school that placed me with a local mentor to learn from in person. This mentor introduced me to a couple life-changing books for me: one by Pema Chodron that sent me deep onto a path of meditation. And another by Chris Guillebeau called, “The Art of Non-Conformity”. 

That book led me to move to Spain in 2012 where I started an English Teaching business. And from there, one synchronicity after another, led me to an opportunity to earn a part time online income that could support me. And so I moved to Kenya and fulfilled my dream to volunteer full time. 

I fell in love with that book and Chris’s journey so much that I attended his conference, The World Domination Summit, in Portland in 2013. There, I met my first life coach. She invited me to speak in Sydney, Australia. And after that talk, one of the audience members came up to me in tears and asked me to be their coach and mentor. I said yes. And I’ve been coaching ever since.

And that all happened because I decided to become a dog trainer. I expanded my comfort zone to include a whole new world. To meet my mentor who pointed me to the next part of my path. 

It was a very non-linear path to Kenya, one that I never could have planned or predicted with my mind. But it was much more magical and fun. And I know now it was in fact the fastest path to that dream. Because every unpredictable step on the journey was preparing me and helping me align to the reality where I lived in Kenya. It was helping to build the capacity of my nervous system and my trust in myself to make that move. 

I had to not know. 

I had to be a bit lost. 

And I had to embrace the not knowing.

And tune back into a Truth I long suppressed. 

And my hope is that you see yourself in this story, although the details will be very different. 

And I hope you’re inspired to embrace being lost. 

To let go of needing to figure it out. 

And to trust that, if you take that first step outside your comfort zone, without knowing what the step will be after that, that you will find everything you’re looking for and more. 

Because in your current comfort zone, you can only see what’s comfortable. When you take the stp outside, you can see the opportunities and relationships you currently can’t see. And one of those opportunities/relationships will lead to the next. 

And, little by little, you’ll expand your comfort zone until, before you know it, you’re living a life of peace, power, and purpose. You’re creating your own safety from your fullest expression. 

All because you let yourself be a bit lost. 

I created the Phoenix Method: A Personalized Guide to Peace, Power, and Purpose through Human Design and more to help you with this journey. It includes your unique personalized Human Design chart. Human Design is a system that helps you tap into that wisdom of your body I’ve been writing about. I hope you take a moment to download it! Human Design has changed my life so much and hope this Guide will help you change yours.

If this post resonated with you, I invite you to join the “Human Design Applied” Facebook Group where you’ll find support and inspiration to embody your Human Design, align to your truth, and trust yourself like never before!