Job security isn't always top priority

I received a delightful handwritten note a couple of weeks ago from a client I have known for almost two years. I don't have her direct permission to use her story, for reasons that will become clear, so I'm changing a few details here such as her name. I want to tell you about the decisions she's made recently, because I think her situation reflects so well the choices we all struggle to make.
Sandy is in her early 30s and doesn't have children or a partner. Her parents are in good health, which means she has no one she must care for at this stage of her life. When she and I began meeting two years ago, she was miserable in the job she had held for five years, despite the fact that it was prestigious, well-paying and stable. By our analysis, Sandy could stay in this position indefinitely without fearing a layoff.
Since Sandy lives simply, she had managed to save quite a bit of money.
Additionally, her house had increased in value, raising her net worth even more. If she kept up this pace, she would have more money than she had ever anticipated -- and still she was unhappy.
Tough decision
When I met Sandy, our conversation centered around a decision she was struggling to make. Should she return to school to finish a graduate degree she had nearly completed before taking this position? Since she could accomplish this without leaving her job, and she had the funds for tuition, the answer should have been an easy "yes."
After all, a graduate degree could help her career, would add prestige to her r & eacute;sum & eacute; and would give her the satisfaction of completing something she had started. Because of the school's policy, however, she would have to enroll quickly to keep the credits she had already earned. Why not go forward?
Just one reason, and it was tearing her up: Sandy was no longer interested in the subject covered by her degree. In fact, she was no longer interested in academics at all. As we talked, it came out that she had pushed herself through school and done well primarily to please her parents and to serve her own competitive edge.
What she decided
Eventually she came to the only decision that really made sense to her. She decided to let the deadline for the degree pass and to continue using her free time on the hobbies she loved, including travel -- which brought us to another conversation: Travel where? Everywhere, it turns out, and not just for a week or two.
Sandy was an accomplished backpack traveler with trips to more than 20 countries under her belt. She was comfortable traveling alone or with others, and had often left the United States for several weeks at a stretch.
But she hadn't been anywhere "significant" since she started the job. For all its other benefits, this position offered only a two-week vacation, and that just wasn't enough for international travel. Was that why she was so unhappy?
Not exactly. This may seem like a stretch to those who are scrambling to get a stable position right now, but Sandy was unhappy because she was too secure. Looking back over her life, she realized she was always happiest when she had very little, in terms of both resources and obligations. That was one reason she had enjoyed school -- not for the study, but for the simple lifestyle she maintained as a student.
Security
So why had she kept this job so long?
And why was she considering staying in it? Because, as she explained, it was secure.
But, I said, "Security isn't your value, Sandy. If you valued security you wouldn't travel the way you do. You wouldn't have changed jobs so often in the past. Why are you suddenly making decisions as if security were the most important thing to you?"
"Because everyone keeps telling me how lucky I am," she answered.
Aha! Career planning by committee. Sandy was sticking it out -- perhaps for another 30 years -- because she had what someone else values, not because it was something she wanted.
This brings us to the note. What did Sandy scribble on scratch paper for me? That she would send me a postcard. She had quit her job and sold her house and was leaving on an eight-month, self-designed tour of the world.
When she comes back, she'll settle in another part of the country, because it's time to try something new.
XAmy Lindgren, the owner of a career-consulting firm in St. Paul, Minn., can be reached at alindgren@pioneerpress.com.