I really resonated with Jessica Aceti’s story. Like some others on this earth, I am a perpetual job hopper. I have worked as a people manager, a teacher, a waiter, barista, a union organizer, and even most recently as a DJ. And those are just my paid jobs. I have so many more interests that I have never been paid for. I am an avid classical pianist. I am a crochet artist. I am a mathematician and philosopher. A daily writer. A cook, a dancer, and a performer. I am a programmer, a therapist, and a tutor. A youtuber, a cyclist, and a climber. Despite my anxieties about not having a single life’s passion into which I can pour all my efforts and make a living, I do love each of these parts of me, for each of these roles represents the rich activities which will be filling my life. If there is any constant, it’s that there is no constant.
I used to be obsessed with a common adage said to people like me. The adage is the advice that “given enough time, all of your experiences will cohere into an amazing job that you just don’t even know yet”. I feel like I’ve been waiting for that moment my whole life. I fantasize about it – what it will feel like to finally be over the hurdle and know that all of the meandering and vacillating will have not been for nothing. They used to tell me when I was young, that in the future, there would be no more need for specialization, and that rather, the job market of the 21st century would require simply the skill of being able to learn whatever you need to adapt. I’m still holding onto this belief, even though it hasn’t worked out personally for me yet.
I think it will though. I have to have faith, because there’s no other option. This is just the way I am. Saying yes to things is how I’ve gotten where I am today. The last job I had that lasted for a long time, 3 years, was during the pandemic, when it was too scary to leave. Even though I had long blown past the point in that job when I felt like I was able to tolerate the boredom, I stayed so that I could feed myself during a global time of uncertainty. But it was the yes, the leap of faith, that drew me out of it and onto to the path to where I am now, a year later. It was actually a simple random act of the universe. I was in New York, and I saw an ad for a graphic design bootcamp on the train. I’d later find out that there was no way I could pay 30 grand to move to New York and bootcamp it up for 3 months, but at the time it was like I was being given a subliminal message from God, who asked: “Do you want to try this?” And that sparked the process of eventually compiling a portfolio to apply to SCCA.
I’m here now, and it’s amazing to see what a simple yes can do. You can simply not know where you’ll be in the future, so there’s no point in worrying about it. The best you can do is to take one step forward, crossing the river one stone at a time. At least, that’s a new adage I’ll live by.