How to Trust Life’s Nudges When Navigating a Career Change
How to trust life’s nudges when navigating a career change
Sometimes life kicks you out of the nest when you don’t have the courage to jump.
Marvin Stockwell, Founder, Champion the Cause
Halfway through the PRSA ICON 2018 conference, I realized that I was choosing my tracks more for what the grassroots side of me needed than for my job as director of media relations at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. I knew instantly that the grassroots advocacy side was really where my heart lay.
Marvin Stockwell, Founder, Champion the Cause
That was early in the process of writing my book, “Champions of the Lost Causes,” which explores why people champion causes, what sustains them and what helps them succeed. My curiosity for the subject matter stemmed from my continued work saving Memphis dormant Mid-South Coliseum from the wrecking ball and helping it reopen. It would be another year before I started a “Champions of the Lost Causes” podcastt o interview people who champion other causes. Why did they have the fire in the gut?
Cause-based work is often where the world changes – where pipelines are stopped from going through sacred land, where buildings are repurposed not bulldozed, where policies are changed, where a campaign of ideas wins hearts and minds and turns back unchecked greed.I experienced the exhilaration of being part of a group of people championing a cause together, and what it demanded of me as a communicator was a level of challenge and complexity that I found fascinating and fun.
What a shame that these small units of people are not often given the resources to win their war of words and ideas. That bothered me. Certainly, there’s a way I can change that, I thought. That has stayed with me ever since.
Flash forward three years to the spring of 2021. I’d written 150,000+ words, brought in a developmental editor and a book marketing coach, launched a website and started growing a subscriber list. By then I’d also published a free e-book, and gotten into a rhythm with the podcast. Suddenly, I was laid off from my job.There was no sense in getting upset with the coronavirus. “Other people have lost their lives,” I thought. “You’ve only lost your job.” Still, it was a gut punch. Twisting in the wind was painful, but on the other side of it now, I realize it was good for me.Sometimes life kicks you out of the nest when you don’t have the courage to jump.