FOLLOWING THE PROTOCOLS

 

It’s interesting to observe how our professional life unfolds over the years. At around eighteen, we’re expected to choose a college major — our future, supposedly defined by a single mark on a form.

I remember staring at that school document, asked to put an X beside the profession I would pursue. I had absolutely no idea what to choose. It made me deeply anxious.

I took vocational tests that only confused me even more. And like a teenager who doesn’t know what to answer on a test, I ended up “copying” my best friend. She chose Business Administration and spoke wonders about it, so I marked the same option.
Needless to say… it was a complete disaster.

In college, I didn’t truly understand what I was doing there. Most of my classmates were wealthy heirs preparing to manage their family businesses. I felt completely out of place.

Time passed. I graduated, entered the job market… and became unemployed. Just like that.

Eventually, I discovered that what I truly loved was Law. I pursued a second degree, and it opened doors for me: a public service position, recognition at work, and roles of trust within the institution I serve.
But now, at 46, I suddenly find myself feeling like that 18-year-old girl again — unsure if this is really what I want to do with my life.
How is that even possible?

What’s most curious is noticing that so many people my age feel the same. We followed the “life protocol”: finish school, go to college (sometimes twice, like I did), work for years in the field we trained for… and still, we are far from fulfilled.

I know teachers who wish they were architects, lawyers who discovered they are writers, psychologists who dream of another career. Many of us are lost in this phase called “midlife.”

And what scares me most is understanding that making money today has very little to do with this traditional path — the one passed down through generations.

It’s impossible not to notice how many people are getting rich in professions that weren’t even on my school’s list, the one where I had to put that “X.”
Influencers, AI professionals, online course creators… parading around with luxury cars and giant mansions.
It’s confusing — for me, and maybe for you too, dear reader.

My reference comes from my parents and grandparents: clocking in, taking their lunch break at the same time every day, and receiving their salary at the end of the month to support the family. That’s how I was raised. That’s what I was taught to do.

Now I’m part of this “sandwich generation” — pressed on one side by old beliefs and expectations, and on the other, raising a son whose future profession I can’t even imagine, because it may not exist yet.

Somewhere in the middle of all this, I feel lost.
Frustrated for not feeling fulfilled in what I do, and at the same time eager to explore this new world — hoping to find myself and, of course, earn something in the emerging professions around us.

Only those standing on this dividing line will understand.
I look back and see that the old pattern of career building is outdated.
I look forward and see a challenging world, one that requires us to run a marathon just to keep up with everything changing.

But let’s keep running.
Because those who stay still… will be swallowed.