I will be 37 in 7 days. What am I learning? Mostly, I’ll never have it all figured out. After briefly being a flight attendant, my 9-year career in tech came to a pause. The position got eliminated, so I leaned heavily into pivoting. I will continue to lean into pivoting my entire life as that’s what I’ve been good at.

“Be flexible like palm trees,” they used to tell us in flight attendant training, as sometimes, while on call, you didn’t know where you were going. I’m proud of 27-year-old me, as she did the best that she could with what she had. She stumbled a lot. I will continue to stumble as that’s how I learn my hardest but most useful lessons. The advice that I would give 47-year-old me (10 years from now) is don’t be a people pleaser, say no, as those people years from now won’t matter. And keep leaping with courage even when fear tugs at everything that I am. Getting out of my comfort zone has gotten me everywhere that I am. It led me to Dallas for flight attendant training, knowing no one. It then led me to New York, also knowing no one but settling down to try life in the big city, where once upon a time I ran my entire apartment off the mobile hotspot that was my phone. I will try something until it works before giving up and trying something new. That’s just in my DNA.

I applied for a job in tech years ago, thinking that I had no tech experience, but connected the dots that little old me before my MySpace days was fixing computers. College me used to have people outside of my dorm room asking for help with their computers. Secretary me, was running formulas in Excel like it was second nature. I learned data, I learned process Mapping, I became a mayor during a global pandemic, I published multiple books, and I went from canvassing for a presidential election to cutting (assigning) turf and running analytics for said turf, even though I caught a bug and was wrapped up in a blanket in my tiny office in a Coworking space. There was too much on the line to stay home. It reminded me of how far and how much I will pour into things that feed my passion. During the pandemic, while working in Healthcare IT as a business analyst, we discovered that we all couldn’t be online at once, so I, being the common thread and a leader on both teams, cut my shift in half and worked onshore and offshore hours so the customer couldn’t feel our pain points. The irony in me going the distance for that job was that I got laid off and already had already paid off my vacation. Past me seems to always look out for future me because after working in healthcare during a global pandemic, being in a pool at Universal Studios was well deserved. Going on adventures that younger me hadn’t even dreamed of healed something that I didn’t know needed healing.

I may not always be content with my circumstances, but I’m content in my space. In interviews, when asked what my biggest strength is, I always say my adaptability. I’m a middle child and an only girl, and I know how to lead with audacity. My mom taught me to always ask for what I want and to never “feed the animals” (don’t feed negativity), and I love that. I’ve learned how to stand by lonesome if I’m right, and I’ve learned how to follow great leaders. I cannot wait to look back at 37-year-old me to see what 47-year-old me became because, no matter the circumstances, I will continue reaching for the stars because I know what it took to get here.

Growth requires movement, even when it disrupts comfort. – R29 Aquarius Horoscope