Way back when, I started my career in non-profit development as a bright-eyed 23-year-old. It was the single most fulfilling job I’ve had to date. I worked long and hard and couldn’t wait for Mondays. Our event season ran from May to October and we spent 10-24 hours a day together during that time. Needless to say, we were tight.
But making it on $21,191 a year is almost impossible and slowly one by one we moved on. As many of us went corporate as moved onto to other non-profits. While I averaged about 2.5 years per job, Jelly rooted into a non-profit, worked her way up to a vice president position. Just this past fall she took a position as an executive director.
She was born to lead and has all of the characteristics necessary to not only run an organization but to leave it better than she found it.
My first reaction was pride. I’m proud of her. But then I quickly turned it back on myself. Should I have been an ED by now? Am I as successful as I should be?
I’ve always liked being an individual contributor better. I even thought dealing with an intern this past fall was the woooorst. And the work an executive director does is mostly loathsome. There’s no way I want that job.
After spending too much time wondering if I was failing myself, I stopped to wonder why I was comparing myself to Jelly. We were never on the same track in life, why on earth would I measure my success against her career path?
Baz Luhrmann said, “The race is long, but in the end, it’s only with yourself.” True that.
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