Journey In Unemployment Land | 11
Post 11: 8/19/2024
2024-08-23 23:36:23
🗓 Week 11 into my Journey In Unemployment Land. I think it's time to talk about pivoting.
🤸🏿♀️ My former colleague, JP (Jeanna Paden), spoke about grit a while ago. I empathized with her because my family fed me a healthy side of grit with every meal. Grit is something that you're taught, a muscle you have to train, and it's not something you can unlearn.
🇻🇮 I hail from the beautiful island of St. Croix, USVI. I am the youngest of roughly 10 kids (we don't count family the way mainlanders do, sorry.) in a working-class family. My father was the head of forensics at VIPD and a senator in the early 2000s. My mother has been in public health since she was 20 years old. They made sure we all volunteered often, participated in softball, band, Girl Scouts, soccer, and arts, and studied hard. If my father were alive today, he'd be blown away by how persistent his children have been in the face of recessions, racism, and recurring setbacks that we've experienced in life. I know he'd be proud of me.
👩🏿🎓 Like most West Indians, I don't know how to not work. My friends used to make fun of me because I had three jobs at one point in my life. I confess that I was jealous of their ability to sit on their hands. At the time, I couldn't help but notice that I was one of two of my parent's college-educated children, my father was resting in a tomb, my mother wasn't making six-figures, and there was no trust fund to be found. My education was supposed to be a ticket towards a better life. So, I put my foot on the gas and I worked.
🛠 A lot of people on this platform talk about their careers like it's 3D chess. They chose each line item on their resume carefully, crafting this ladder towards a supposed top. In reality, most people work because they have to. They don't have the luxury of being picky because life is happening. Life isn't waiting on that perfect opportunity or a strategic move. Life serves you a bowl of humble pie and you gotta eat it.
☀ The truth is that I may have to take a temporary gig to get me from point A to point B. I may end up driving for Lyft. I'll have to get food stamps (again). But if I'm anything, it's an optimistic person. I am someone's daughter. I am intelligent and talented. It doesn't matter. My story is still being written.
#journeyinunemploymentland
#opentowork
#laidoff