Does it hurt to have a fall-back position?
I was having this discussion with my husband’s cousin today, who’s here visiting us from Germany. He just finished law school and is taking a much-needed and deserved break.
He went into law for the same reason I did: because he knew he needed to support himself, and it seemed like a better way to go than the alternatives. He said he has a lot of friends who studied things they were interested in–history, geology, philosophy–and they had a great time in university, but now they can’t find jobs.
He, on the other hand, is about to start an internship and after that will specialize in an area of law in high demand. He won’t have trouble finding employment.
Does he love it? No, but he certainly doesn’t hate it. He tolerates it. And considering the economy in Germany, that’s good enough.
For a while I loved law. It was intellectually stimulating and I loved doing the research and writing. But then the love left, and I tolerated it for a while, until finally I was feeling like I was going to throw up as I drove to work every morning. I try to pay attention to signs like that hitting me over the head.
So then I went into another career that I tolerated, but didn’t love. Why? Same reasons as before: it was something I knew I could do, and it would earn me some money. Ho hum. No passion there.
It took the shock of September 11 to make me realize I couldn’t keep wasting time hiding from my real life. I’m sure I’m not the only one who had that reaction. Sometimes all we can salvage from a horrible circumstance is some awareness of how we’re screwing up.
It just so happens that a few weeks after that I attended a writing conference where the keynote speaker, Catherine Ryan Hyde, talked about her decision early in her writing career to go into debt so she could continue writing rather than find a day job, because “if you have a fall-back position, you tend to fall back.”
Wow. Did I hear that. Occasionally I can actually be impulsive, and this time I was. I went home and closed up my business and started writing full time. And now, five years later, here I am–a novel coming out next summer, my second one the year after that, and hopefully on and on and on.
So now I’m finally doing what I wanted to do since I was a little girl. And every day I wake up excited to get back to it. That’s the best feeling in the world. I’m sorry I didn’t give it to myself any earlier, but the truth is we can’t move until we’re ready. No point regretting the natural course of things.
So where are you? Do you love, like, tolerate, or actually hate your career? Or if you’re doing something you love now, what did it take for you to leave that job you didn’t love so much? I always like to hear people’s last-straw stories.
And what do you think of Catherine Ryan Hyde’s theory about not having a fall-back position? Agree or disagree?
Technorati Tags: Writing, Publishing, Law, Lawyers, Law School, Catherine Ryan Hyde, Careers, Career Change, Career Happiness
I quit my job nearly a year ago,mainly because the demoralizing atmosphere was affecting my health(and my boss would say things to me like”I gave you a $1 raise because I felt sorry for you”,which really made me wonder about all the other times I recieved a raise and added work responsibilities). I’ve never left one job without having another one to go to before(a fallback of sorts)but they’ve all been retail work and I’d like to have a job that lets me do something I truly love and pays well.
My last job I held for eight years. That’s a pretty long time to stay in one place nowadays,I guess. I’m still looking and hoping to get something soon. As to Catherine’s theory,it holds water. I know I stayed in several jobs way too long just to keep the status quo.
Wow, Lady T–a bold move! Good luck finding something that will satisfy you both financially and personally!
I think it depends on what KIND of fall-back position you have.
When I decided (FINALLY!) to toss my day job and fling myself headlong into the world of writing, I did it in as cautious a manner as I could — I set a “retirement date” a year in the future and began saving up money at that very moment, in anticipation of a tough slog after I quit my job. I lined up some freelance gigs so that I’d have some bread on the table no matter what.
So I still had something of a safety net, but I wasn’t totally relying on the fall-back position of my day job any more. Honestly, if I’d just said, “Screw it!” and walked out with no money saved up and no freelance work on the horizon, the stress would have been crippling and would have prevented me from getting any writing done anyway.
I guess the most important thing is to know your own limitations and foibles. If you don’t mind not knowing where your next paycheck is going to come from, then more power to you — go for it. If you DO mind not knowing, then that doesn’t mean you can’t take the plunge. You just have to plan for it.
My mom always told me that unless I wanted to be a doctor, lawyer, or the like, it didn’t matter what I went to school for because no one ever really uses their degree anyway; it’s just there to prove you went to college because that’s what you have to do nowadays. So here I am, attending one of the most expensive universities in the country, working toward a degree in an incredibly interesting subject that has nothing to do with my desired career path.
Fall back plan? Hell to the no!!! I’ll figure it out as I go.
I’ve kind gone with a fall forward position. Never finished college. I dropped out and formed a band, became a standup comic, ran an ongoing comedy show and covered all that with such lucrative jobs as cook, window manufacturer, mover, shoe salesman, record store employee with a goatee, X-ray/mamography machine installer, etc.
Which is a logical transition to my current fly around the country and install software job.
For me, the security has to be there. The emotional and money support is crucial. Like Barry, without it, I would be crippled.
Reading some authors’ backgrounds, Piers Anthony had a wife who supported him. Robert Jordan ended up in the hospital for about 6 months with nothing else to do. I’d personally prefer being the kept man rather than the hospital stay, but either would be something.
Fall back plan??? Not anymore! I finally cut the cord of my 17 year job two years ago – of course I did the “I’ll just work 6 months of this year and put the money in savings just to make sure I can do it.” Talk about a safety net complex. I’ve been very fortunate to have the support of many wonderful clients (Robin), so my passion is now also paying the bills and putting food on the table. People always say what a brave thing it was to leave a job after so long. I say just take a deep breath and jump…and hopefully you don’t break an ankle when you land.
Remember – if you love what you do, it will show through in your work and you won’t have any choice but to be successful. And….success doesn’t have to be measured in dollar signs.
Yeah, Michele, you definitely made the right move. Bold, as usual!