Man, 2017, that was a year, wasn’t it? Feels like a lifetime ago, but also just yesterday. I remember glancing at some online buzz back then, something about a “Dragon Pisces” and “unlocking potential,” and honestly, I kinda scoffed. I mean, horoscopes, really? But deep down, something about that “unlocking potential” part just snagged onto me. Because that year, I was truly stuck, proper stuck in a career rut that felt like quicksand.
I was just going through the motions, you know? Waking up, hitting that same old commute, staring at the same old screen, doing the same old stuff. My job wasn’t bad, not really. It paid the bills, kept a roof over my head. But it felt… flat. Like listening to a song on repeat until you just don’t hear the melody anymore. And that feeling started to seep into everything, even when I was off the clock. I’d come home, sprawl on the couch, and just feel this weird hum of dissatisfaction. That’s when I realized, something had to give.
The Nudge to Change
It wasn’t one big lightbulb moment, more like a slow, creeping dawn. I started small, just poking around. I’d open my laptop after work, not to binge-watch anything, but to actually look at what else was out there. LinkedIn became less of a scroll-and-forget thing and more of a “what are these folks actually doing?” kind of place. I started picking at old projects I’d abandoned, just trying to see if I still had any spark left in me to build something, anything.
The thing is, I was comfortable. Too comfortable. You know that feeling when you’re in a warm bed on a cold morning? Getting out feels impossible, even if you know there’s a great day waiting for you. That was me. And frankly, the thought of starting fresh, of putting myself out there again, it was terrifying. I remembered getting laid off once, way back when. That was a rough patch. Felt like the rug got pulled right out from under me. Had a family to think about, bills piling up faster than I could count ’em. Had to scrounge for any gig I could find, just to keep things moving. That memory, that raw panic, it always held me back from rocking the boat too much.
But this feeling in 2017 was different. It wasn’t external panic; it was internal rust. And I just couldn’t shake it. So, I pushed past that fear, just a little bit at a time.
Taking the First Leaps
My first real move was to just start learning something new. Completely unrelated to my day job, mind you. I picked up some basic coding tutorials online. Always thought that stuff was for super-brains, but hey, why not? Took a few free courses, just to see what stuck. And you know what? Some of it did. It was clunky, messy, and I felt like an absolute idiot half the time, but the act of creating something, even just a tiny script that barely worked, gave me a rush I hadn’t felt in years.
- I spent evenings glued to my screen, trying to figure out why my code kept breaking.
- Weekends, I’d head to a local coffee shop, spread out my notes, and just dive into problem-solving.
- I started talking to people, too. Friends of friends who were in tech, even just random folks I met at meetups. I’d just ask them about their journey, what they loved, what sucked.
These conversations, man, they were eye-opening. Everyone had their own struggles, their own detours. But everyone also had that fire, that passion for what they did. And I realized, I wanted that fire back in my own life. I wanted to build things that actually meant something to me, not just punch in and punch out.
The Big Pivot
Eventually, all that poking and prodding led me to a new idea. I started seeing a pattern in what I enjoyed, a place where my old experience somewhat overlapped with these new skills I was picking up. It wasn’t about completely ditching my past; it was about twisting it, evolving it. I found a niche. A role that combined my understanding of the business with a burgeoning ability to speak the language of development. It was a hybrid thing, not quite what I was doing, not quite what I was learning, but right there in the middle.
Applying for that first role felt like jumping off a cliff. My resume probably looked like a patchwork quilt. I remember tailoring it for days, trying to make sense of how my “old me” could fit this “new me.” The interview process was grueling. Felt like I was constantly on the spot, trying to prove I wasn’t just some hobbyist dabbling. They asked tough questions, made me solve problems on the fly. And there were moments, plenty of them, where I thought, “This is it. I blew it. Back to the old grind.”
But I kept pushing. I kept telling myself, even if this one doesn’t work out, I’ve still learned so much. I’ve still opened my eyes to possibilities I never even considered. The biggest “unlock” wasn’t just getting a new job; it was realizing I could change, I could learn, I could evolve.
Where I Landed
And then, finally, the offer came. It wasn’t a huge pay bump, not at first. But it was a complete shift in scenery, in tasks, in mindset. I was learning every single day, working with a team that was genuinely excited about what they were building. It was messy, it was challenging, but it was alive. That hum of dissatisfaction? Gone. Replaced with the satisfying buzz of problem-solving and creation.
Looking back, that whole 2017 period, it really did feel like “unlocking potential.” Not because some horoscope told me to, but because I finally got tired enough of the stagnant water to actually start swimming again. It wasn’t easy, there were plenty of face-plants, but pushing through that discomfort, that fear of the unknown, was truly the best decision I made for my career, and honestly, for my sanity.
