When You Know What You Don’t Want
Estimated Reading Time: 3-4 minutes
When You Know What You Don't Want
Sometimes the hardest part of career change isn't knowing what you want. It's realising you've outgrown what you already have. This was the first time I discovered that uncertainty isn't always a setback. Sometimes it's the beginning of something much better.
I was 22 years old when I was made redundant.
For three weeks, I didn't want to tell anyone.
It wasn't because I'd done anything wrong.
And it wasn't because there wasn't plenty of work available.
There was.
The truth was more complicated.
Deep down, I already knew my trade wasn't where I wanted to spend the rest of my working life.
I wasn't a bad tradesman.
I was capable.
I just knew it wasn't for me.
Being made redundant left me with two emotions.
Part of me was embarrassed.
Part of me was relieved.
The problem was, while I knew what I didn't want...
...I had absolutely no idea what I did.
At 22, it felt as though everyone else had their future mapped out.
Whether they actually did or not is another question.
When you've lost your job and your direction, it's easy to believe you're the only one who's fallen behind.
I was fortunate to be living in the family home, with the support I needed while I worked out what came next.
Then someone gave me a chance.
Not because they knew what I could do.
Because they believed in my character.
A friend's mum worked in hospitality. She asked the manager to interview me, despite never having seen me work.
She couldn't speak about my experience.
She backed my potential.
Three weeks later, on Valentine's Day, I walked into my first shift.
I was a GPU.
A Glass Picker Upper.
I collected empty glasses, washed them, cleaned ashtrays and convinced myself this was simply a job for now.
Within weeks, I enrolled in a Diploma of Therapeutic Massage. Sport had always been a passion, and I imagined that might become my future.
But while I was preparing for one career...
...another one was quietly beginning.
The ‘job for now’ became the career I never planned.
The casual job became permanent.
Suddenly I wasn't just picking up glasses.
I was learning every corner of the business.
Front of house.
Back of house.
Cellar work.
Fine dining service.
Some of it came naturally.
Some of it definitely didn't.
Carrying a fully loaded drinks tray through a crowded function room was my own slow-moving train wreck.
I was nervous.
I was excited.
I made mistakes.
Plenty of them.
Then I made fewer.
Every shift taught me something.
Somewhere along the way, I discovered I didn't just want to become competent.
I wanted to become really good at it.
I started seeing better ways to do things.
Colleagues trusted me.
Customers recognised me.
Before long, work became genuinely enjoyable.
By the time I graduated, the sports therapy career I thought I wanted had quietly slipped into second place.
The "job for now" had become the career I never planned.
Looking back now, I realise I wasn't waiting for my career to begin.
It already had.
I just hadn't recognised it yet.
A thought to take with you
Sometimes clarity doesn't arrive because we discover the perfect career.
Sometimes it arrives because we give ourselves permission to keep moving, keep learning and pay attention to what unexpectedly comes alive along the way.
Knowing what you don't want isn't failure. Quite often, it's the first real step towards discovering what you do.