There was a point in my past where I hit a career high. I was doing what I loved in an environment I had sought for what seemed like forever. Having reached it at such a young age, I was grateful and thought it was all up from there.

I could not have been more wrong.

Only a month into my career high, I hit my career low. Not fitting into my new position, I was set free. Being the eternal optimist (no hard feelings!), I knew there was a reason why I was now looking for another path, so that's what I set out to do. It made me realize I had to find not only a design career, but a design career that fit who I am.

You see, even though we may love and crave the careers we choose, it might take some time to find the right environment to really excel in. With so many options and so many different kinds of companies out there, which one works for you?

Finding the right work environment is not something that happens overnight when there are so many choices; patience and resilience are necessities. While testing the waters, occasionally failure might rear its ugly head. Personally I don't call it failure, because failure means you let the experience decide you shouldn't try again. In reality, it's all part of our professional and personal growth and is necessary in order to find the right "fit".

I always remember that without great failure there cannot be great success, so I use this as my motto to not be afraid to take risks and put myself out on a limb again. The universe has a funny way of blessing us with opportunity. It may not come in the pretty package we expect. If we’re open to "whatever will be, will be", we can turn our experiences into great victories instead of great defeats.

~Amanda~

Amanda Weedmark