Why you'll need to shift how you frame adversity as a 30-year-old professional when you make your career shift so that you don't stop pursuing your thing based on my nearly 1,000 days as a freelancer
Here are the 3 steps from my experience that you can use to avoid being overwhelmed by the adversity you'll face so that you don't stop and successfully pursue that thing you want to see in the world.
I’m 45 days from three years as a full-time freelancer.
It has been 1,049 days. It has been grueling. There was adversity. But it was worth it.
Here are the 3 steps from my experience that you can use to avoid being overwhelmed by the adversity you'll face so that you don't stop and successfully pursue that thing you want to see in the world.
1. I already knew this was my path a long time ago
I started thinking about going out on my own 15 years ago.
One day, I called up the college I still contract with as its play-by-play broadcaster and got an agreement to revamp their video-streaming strategy. As I started that project, I began to realize how much I enjoyed avoiding group decision-making, seeing my creative ideas become reality, and having more control of my time. It made me crave doing more on my own, but my wife and I would find an excuse or alibi as to why it wasn't the right time.
The reality is, much like was the case when we had our first child, or changed from one employer to another, or moved from one city to another -- it's never really the right time, so you might as well get started.
2. There will be your version of adversity
For me, it has been debt.
My strategy didn't include adjusting our family's lifestyle to the loss of a steady income. Admittedly, I pushed for us to do even more spending on experiences in the first year than we had done in the prior 10 years of living. I attribute that to not really living my actual path for over a decade, and as a result, I overcorrected.
While I suspect you'll have something similar, it won't be insurmountable, especially if you have reassurance, hope and support from others.
3. How you reframe your adversity will be important
Like I said, we have accumulated a lot of debt, and as I write this, we are neither out of that debt nor navigating having it easily.
However, there are many career paths - let's term them callings - that accumulate significant debt. My brother-in-law is a chiropractor, and he's made reference to the amount he pays in student loans each month. In 2023, the National Library of Medicine lists chiropractic with a combined undergraduate and graduate debt of $136,234. If I spend the equivalent on interest as I build out my thing, then I'll consider that my graduate degree.
Whether your finances, your relationships with other people, the perceptions about leaving an established professional life, etc., what matters most is how you reframe your adversity.
It is obvious to me that I am meant to work outside of traditional employment, and when the road got difficult, it has been challenging to stay the course. Reframing adversity has been key for me continuing my pursuit of what I know is my truth.
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