Later-life career redirections can feel like trying to turn an ocean liner. It takes full engine power and lots of space to execute the turn. Even as early as just after college graduation, young adults can feel locked into the path they spent so much effort preparing themselves for.
Just a few years earlier, though, the gentlest of nudges can redirect a young adult’s life. The right compliment, the right suggested listening, the right advice in a voice lesson – these can set someone on a new path that takes them on a wildly different life path.
It’s one of the things I love about teaching the students I teach: so many opportunities to give the gentlest of nudges and create the inspiring experiences that give them a new direction.
I witnessed someone else interact with a high school student yesterday, and I wouldn’t be surprised if in ten or twenty years, he pointed to this as the nudge that set his life trajectory. It’s a joy and a blessing to get to be involved in those sorts of moments.