What’s the difference between “YOLO” and “reckless” when it comes to making career decisions?
I spent the first 15 years of my adult life swaying like a pendulum between two, seemingly conflicting desires: The desire for stability, and the desire for freedom. It seemed as though I had about a three year window to cycle through each of these wants, and once that three years were up, I would swing the other way. Three years in a stable job and then, like clockwork, I would sell all of my belongings, move out of whatever cute apartment I had rented, and buy a one-way ticket abroad. After three years of travel, adventure, and living out of a suitcase, I would return home again in search of stability.
If I’m being honest, this pendulum hasn’t fully stopped swinging in my 40s, it just looks very different now. My priorities have shifted, and I live much more in the middle, actively designing a life that allows me to have both, without fully sacrificing the other.
And when I work with someone who finds themself in a similar pendulum swing, I recognize the pattern well. From a career perspective, the real question they are often asking themselves is “is it safe to trust myself, or am I being irresponsible and reckless?”
As someone who has been both irresponsible and reckless, AND has trusted my gut, I’ve learned that they are not one in the same.
So, how do you know if you’re taking a smart, calculated risk, or if you’re throwing the baby out with the bathwater?
Here are some clues:
Trusting yourself looks like making sure your basic needs are met. It doesn’t look like quitting your job with zero savings and praying that your concept of a plan immediately starts to work for you on day one. That is a recipe for nervous system disaster.
Trusting yourself looks like being real about your financial situation on both ends: Recognizing what resources you do have available, and what resources you do not.
Trusting yourself looks like being curious and following your instincts, even when they don’t make total, logical sense. Maybe you feel a nudge to take a class, or call your college roommate, or try a new recipe. You don’t know where those nudges will lead, but you follow them and are open to seeing.
Trusting yourself looks like making lifestyle changes in the name of what matters to you most. Is your want for freedom or fulfillment worth skipping your biweekly manicures or delaying a new car purchase?
Trusting yourself looks like taking risks and being vulnerable. It looks like sharing your vision or goals with others and being ok with them not fully getting it at first.
Trusting yourself looks like navigating the void space between where you’ve been, and where you’re headed. You don’t get there without stepping into the unknown and learning to sit in that discomfort.
Operating beyond your comfort zone will bring up fear and anxiety and core limiting beliefs. But the question is, is it worth navigating in the name of your bigger vision? In my case, that has been very much the case. And it has also required me to do a lot of internal work to get to that place.
So, the next time you’re standing at that fork, asking yourself whether you’re being reckless or brave, ask a better question: Am I running towards something, or away from it? And If I’m running towards it, have I done the work to choose trust over fear?
And, if you're standing at that fork right now and want support choosing trust over fear, I offer a 2-hour career clarity deep-dive intensive built exactly for this. It's $333 through the end of August, before the price goes up on September 1st. Learn more and book your spot here.
Alex Rizzi (MSEd) is an integrative career coach, hypnotherapist, and soon-to-be psychotherapist. She helps people decondition from extractive systems and build careers rooted in sovereignty. If this article resonated, take her free quiz to discover your Liberated Career Archetype or book a free chat here.