Changing Seasons & Changing Careers

That is a view from my family's house on 14 Island Lake in Hartington, Ontario. A beautiful escape, which I was beyond grateful to have this past summer. Last April I made the hard decision to move back home for a few months, as I fashioned together a tough yet convinced decision to change my career.

Performing was my set path for ten or more years. I was keen to make a living and worked hard throughout college. But three years out into the real world my aspirations and desires began to shift. The patience for acting work grew thin, as did my bank account. During this time I took off to travel, thinking it would ingest inspiration into my veins. But every time I came back to Toronto nothing had changed, except that I had fallen further into the background.

The first time I ventured off to a foreign country, my agent brushed it off with a smile and reassuring consolation. But after my second adventure, I was dropped from the roster. More than fair as I reflect, but at the time devastating. All the networking I had perfected vanished, as did my confidence. Starting from square one, with no motivation or drive eventually buried me under layers of depression. A cloud of guilt hung over, as I thought "this is called quitting". Efforts to eat and market myself came to a halt (especially during the city winter months), which ultimately led to my superhero father bringing me home.

The beginning of the summer is when I started to rebuild (yet) again. But this time I had a serene lake with barely any distractions, and hundreds of acres of forest to explore. Canoeing, meditation, running, writing and of course my incredible parents and their home-cooked meals saved me. Getting back to my nature roots (having been a Taylor Statten camper of 13 years), eventually grounded my thoughts. Once my mental and physical health became more on track, the second career was still waiting. I reached out to strangers in different fields for their career advice, which didn't push me along any faster, but gave me inspiration to hear their stories.

As fall began to creep in, along with a summer's worth of lake therapy and career research, I soon realized I had in fact transferable skills and years of impressive experience - I just had to piece the two together.

Taking the time to swap the city life for the country life can do wonders for the psyche. Canada is filled with easy access to natural escapes. We just need to pick up a paddle and allow the outdoors to steady our minds.

#MentalHealth #FrontenacCounty #OntarioLakes #Canoeing #Career