What I learned about the value of loving your work (and life)
By Ariel Stiglitz, Product Manager
Although I’m often quick to tell an embarrassing personal story over a pint, talking about myself in public has never come easy. Instilled with the idea that people won’t care about my experience, and that it could be perceived as showing off, I’ve shied away from the blogging and publicizing that I’ve enjoyed from friends and colleagues. But faced with a professional success and a need to market it, I thought that a brief career story might be of interest to some in my network. I’ll try to keep this brief.
Like many privileged people in my generation, I graduated in 2008 as a bright-eyed liberal arts robot ready to take on all the ills of society. The recession quickly flushed those dreams down the toilet, and with the help of a friend, I found myself crunching data in Excel all day for an ad tech company. What was intended as a brief stint before law school became a career, and a successful one at that. I found my tribe of friends and mentors in ad tech and settled in an exciting, supportive company that taught me a wide variety of professional skills and sent me off to exotic places (London!).
Through all the excitement and growth of my career, I was always dissatisfied. I forced myself to focus on the good things; financial stability, good people to work with, a comfortable home, frequent extravagant holidays. That bright-eyed child in me wanted to do more than optimize ad load, but I blamed my anxiety on a genetically depressive outlook and a Sagittarius’ addiction to change. Everyone felt like this, I noticed, but the happier ones eventually got over it by training themselves to be “reasonable” and saving their dreams for retirement.
My decision last year to finally switch careers was a difficult one, and through the months of unemployment and self-doubt, I thought I’d inevitably give up and crawl back to advertising. How could I help the world with my skills, but keep the lifestyle I was accustomed to? Did I really even have any transferable skills? Could I thrive without the network I’d developed over the years? Would I be happy with less?
Finding Globechain was the life-altering change that I needed. Here I’ve found a company doing great things for corporate sustainability, building high-quality technology and employing some of the brightest in the industry. As the world was plunged into a pandemic, our small team powered through the personal and professional uncertainty to build a best-in-class product from our sofas. We forced ourselves to smile through the fear, argued our way through grumpy morning stand-ups, and supported each other through challenging societal change. Last week we released our new reuse marketplace for business, and I’ve never been prouder of any professional achievement. It took 4 months at Globechain to make me realize what’s important for my career and life, and I’m happy to say I don’t miss what I’ve lost.
Throughout this pandemic, we’ve all been forced to give up on much of what we enjoy in life, and being happy in our core has never been more important. To anyone who might feel that same nagging dissatisfaction in their life or career, I urge you to reevaluate what you think you enjoy. You don’t need much bravery or a big safety net to take a small leap. By shedding the comforts one by one, you may be surprised to find that the things you value today don’t actually make you happy.
