Following the Breadcrumbs
A young colleague from my regenerative real estate community reached out to me recently to chat about career paths as he explored all the options and possibilities that lie ahead of him. It was rather refreshing for me to ponder on what we all do with our career in this day and time. Naturally, things are quite different from when I was in my 20s thinking about how my anticipated career path would unfold.
As I grew up, I had a lot of dreams and interests. I didn’t have one profession I was really interested in pursuing. Only one thing I knew I wanted was to learn to speak English, and I considered different possibilities in which I will get to use the language skills. While I was at UCLA on a student visa, I started to do some translation work as my language skill was the most deployable at the moment. I never received formal training but I became fairly proficient and continued to do translation work for many years. Meanwhile, I also started working in TV production because I was introduced to a local Japanese news production company, which also became a career of its own, which led me to making documentaries. Whatever the path I followed, I was never motivated by financial rewards but by some altruistic pursuits of making a difference in the world.
Almost four decades later, many of my friends are starting to retire with a nice nest egg after working a job (or at least something much more consistent than my work history) whereas I’m far from being able to retire and still deciding how I’m going to dedicate my life in the professional arena in coming years. I would have never imagined that I would become a real estate agent, but here I am a “green realtor” specializing in sustainability/regenerative practice. I do have many “what if”s to ask myself, but my approach to life of simply following the breadcrumbs with curiosity has rendered me an interesting — to say the least — life.
As I’m getting older, I can’t help but to feel insecure about my future every so often. But everytime I question what I’m doing, and if I can allow myself to pause, get still and go within, I get assurance from the Universe telling me to “trust yourself.” I am where I am by taking the next indicated actions — one step at a time — and really, I don’t have any other choice but to trust the process. And I think that’s a wonderful thing.