Careers are funny things. We spend the early parts of our lives learning through experience and discovery. In our teens, we imagine our adult lives, dream about possibilities, and revel in the wonders of figuring it all out.

Then, as adults, we crush those dreams trying to fit them neatly into a so-called “career”, tug and pull them to stay on some defined path, fret about choices we make until we are sick at our stomachs, and then spend all our energies and efforts toward efforts to be “successful.” If we aren’t sure, we look for external validation–other people’s opinions, higher paychecks, and opportunities working for the top employers in our fields.

And we wonder why, so often, upon taking hard looks at our lives and careers, we see a jumbled, crumpled mess that we can hardly recognize.