You are not a cookie.
You are an individual, and incredibly unique. What's right for "everyone" isn't necessarily right for you. There is no cookie cutter solution. Look inside, do the hard work of getting to know yourself, give yourself permission to act on it, and create a career that's tailored specifically to you.
Being who you are fills the well.
When you are doing something that is in alignment with who you are and what lights your fire, you actually get energy from the work you do. It continually fills the well. That means you have more to give, in all areas of your life.
Being who you're not drains the well.
When you're wearing a mask, doing something that *isn't* in alignment with who you are and what lights your fire, you have to dig into your energy reserves to get the job done. It drains the well. Eventually, you're going to start pulling up dust in the bottom of the bucket.
You can never be someone else half as well as you can be you.
It's simple math. Being you in your career means you have more energy to excel. You don't have to use up half your energy just to maintain the status quo.
If your work sucks now, more time won't make it better.
Waiting for things to get better is not an option. If you don't feel good about your work now, guess how you'll feel in five years? (Hint, the answer isn't "better"). Ask yourself, "If I don't do something now, what will tomorrow/next month/next year look like?"
Any action is better than waiting.
Do not, under any circumstances, sit and wait for the time to be right. Because guess what? That's never going to happen. Even if you can't take giant leaps towards change, you can still take small steps. And consistent small steps will take you where you want to go far faster than sitting and waiting...and waiting...and waiting...
It's not what you love, it's why.
It's not knowing what you love doing that is important in creating that career that juices you. It's knowing why. When you say, "I love doing ________," what you really mean is, "I love doing _________ because ________, ________, and ________.
Back to the unique and individual theme - each person's reasons for loving the exact same thing can be different. Understanding the underlying characteristics of the things you love will make it easier to recognize the career paths that incorporate them.
There are multiple perfect jobs waiting for you.
Contrary to popular opinion, there isn't just one "dream job" out there that you were meant to be doing...there are many of them!
Once you understand what the underlying characteristics of the things you love doing are, you can use them to identify all kinds of careers that would satisfy them. It's like an erector set for a career you can love.
