I saw this today and typically I would have moved right on, but I let my mind think some.
“Don’t be afraid to start over.
This time you’re not starting from scratch, you’re starting from experience.”
Obviously it sounds like it could have been pulled out of a fortune cookie but when you let it sit some (at least for me) it hit different. In today’s culture, ESPECIALLY for us who are in the early years of our careers, it almost feels like your first career choice out of college MUST be your long term gig. And if it’s not, you’re losing ground.
Zippia.com for Job Seeker Statistics shares that the average American will have 12 jobs during their lifetime! Thats a lot more than I thought it would be.
With social media causing the crippling claws of comparison to weigh down on every person who is just trying to stay up to date with family on Facebook and watch funny videos on Instagram. It’s easy to feel the pressure that the job you’re currently in is the one you need to stay in since you already have X amount of years of equity built up in that job.
Back to the original quote-
“Don’t be afraid to start over.
This time you’re not starting from scratch, you’re starting from experience.”
When you start something new, your experience doesn’t have to be a PHD in the role you want to succeed at, but rather finding a role that uses both your life experience and also your passions woven together. Speaking from experience, heading off to college, I thought I would work for a church for the rest of my life. At the end of the 6 years of school prepping for ministry I was pretty confident that working in ministry wasn’t what I was made to do, which was really really frustrating.
In 2020, when Kathleen and I moved back to Kentucky with 6 years of school for ministry and no clue what I would do, I was scared, frustrated and consumed with fear. Someone I really respected, notice me going through what was clearly a “fork in the road” in my own life. They sat me down to do a life plan, and he would ask questions and I would answer. I really wasn’t paying attention much to my answers. But about halfway through the day he looked at me and said “do you realize you’ve said ‘I just don’t want to waste any time’ about 10 times today?” It was then that I realized a true lifelong fear of mine, Wasted Time.
Now I wasn’t the valedictorian of my class, if they gave awards for the kid who got just high enough scores to be able to compete in sports, then I might have won that one… but even a shmuck like me knows, I’m not the only one who has a true fear of WASTED TIME. My favorite thing the original quote made me think of pretty quickly was how God used my experiences to truly prepare me for the role I’m in today. The highs / the lows and all that’s in between.
If you’ve made it this far, I’m surprised but thank you. Here are two questions to think on.
- Am I staying stagnant in something that I don’t want to be in because of the fear of starting over?
- What experiences do I have today that felt like a waste at the time, but looking back I know I was being prepared for what was to come?
I’ll end with one of my favorite quotes.
“Dance like nobody’s watching, because they’re not… they’re probably on their phones”
The fear of failure and starting over can be so so tough. But in the end, find those who are in your corner, want you to succeed and push you forward and lock arms with them. And if you don’t have that, I’m happy to be the first one in your corner.
-Sam
