Celebrate Progress
2021 has been a year of direction for me. Of intuitively changing course and setting new goals to align with my priorities. Among those choices has been a career transition and a change of scenery.
I was recently assigned a project to create a visual representation of my clients’ four core values. One of which was “celebrating progress”. This idea resonated with me in a way that most Pinteresty-type quotes couldn’t dare to.
Looking back to 2020, I was one of the lucky ones maintaining a steady income throughout the pandemic, working remotely in a job that I felt comfortable in. In the non-profit industry that was BUSY, I was secure but I was replaceable. Feelings of complacency began to take over my mental space. The Great Resignation was beginning and I’ll be honest, I was a player in that movement along with over 10% of my coworkers and even more friends and family.
This is not progress. Employees leaving steady jobs is not a form of growth I’ll admit. However, as a player in this desolate landscape we call the 9 to 5, I began to resent the work I was doing.
It was several months of meditating on the fears that coincide with leaving a work life I was so familiar with. For me, it was the loss of a steady income and benefits that scared me more than a Stephen King novel ever could. I had to make peace with it and still continue that practice daily.
My greatest progress has not been quitting my role as a Marketing Coordinator or moving to Los Angeles. Anyone can do that. No. My progress was painting a 24” x 28” canvas, my largest canvas to date. My progress was being paid to design my first logo. My progress was being introduced to a stranger as a Graphic Designer.
It was in those small victories that I tapped into that courage within that fuels my day-to-day. In the same way that I congratulated my house plants on new growth, I remembered and continue to celebrate those key milestones. They aren’t the kind of milestones I would share with a distant family member on Thanksgiving day.
They are simply brushstrokes on the canvas of my career. Only the artist is familiar with the work and dedication it takes to create a masterpiece.
November 16, 2021 - Hailey Dorthalina
