Editor’s Note: This article accompanies Episode 015 of Unstuck to Finding Your Edge, my weekly Substack Live with Robyn Levin of Finding Your Edge. We started by talking about career changes, business pivots, and reinvention. Then, the conversation became something much bigger: what happens when life quietly tears up the plan you thought you were following.
Nobody grows up hoping to have five careers, or six or seven.
Most of us imagine life unfolding in a straight line.
Pick a path.
Work hard.
Stay on it.
Then life decides to edit the script.
A company downsizes.
A business struggles.
An industry changes.
A relationship ends.
An opportunity shows up disguised as something you never would have chosen.
Suddenly, the future you’ve been working toward doesn’t exist in the way you imagined.
For a long time, I thought those moments meant something had gone wrong.
I’m not so sure anymore.
→ After listening to Robyn tell her story, and looking back at my own, I keep coming back to the same thought.
Sometimes life isn’t ending the story. It’s changing the chapter.
Staying The Same Isn’t Resilience
I used to think resilience meant holding on, pushing through, and keeping everything together no matter what.
Now I think it’s almost the opposite.
Sometimes resilience looks like letting go of the version of your life that no longer fits.
Neither Robyn nor I followed a straight path.
→ Robyn moved from competitive figure skating to owning an ice rink, trading stocks, working in mortgages, building a marketing career, consulting, publishing, and now helping people find their edge.
→ I started in pediatric oncology nursing, became a nurse practitioner, flew as a flight nurse, learned the stock market, became a writer, published books, and eventually found myself helping creators build their own platforms.
From the outside, those careers look completely unrelated.
Looking back, they feel inevitable.
→ Every chapter quietly taught us something the next one would need.
The funny thing is...you rarely recognize that while you’re living it.
Action Interrupts Helplessness
One thing I kept noticing during our conversation was that neither of us waited until we felt ready.
Robyn didn’t know exactly how moving to San Francisco would work out.
When the technology market shifted and her original plan disappeared, she didn’t sit around waiting for certainty to magically appear.
→ She used the skills she already had, found another path, and kept moving. 🐐
My first nursing job happened the same way.
After months of sending applications into what felt like a black hole, I finally stopped waiting for an online application to change my life.
→ I drove to the hospital, walked into Human Resources, introduced myself, and asked for an opportunity and that conversation became an interview and the interview became a job.
Neither of us was fearless.
We were both uncertain.
The difference is we moved before confidence showed up.
→ I’ve noticed that’s usually how confidence works.
It doesn’t arrive first.
Confidence catches up after you’ve already started walking.
You’re Probably Not Starting Over
This is one of those ideas I’ve changed my mind about over the years.
We love saying we’re “starting over.”
But are we?
Most of the time, I don’t think we are.
You’re not throwing your experience away. You’re recycling it.
Robyn used her marketing background to help save her ice rink.
Her understanding of finance later opened the door to a consulting relationship that lasted seven years.
→ Different jobs. Same strengths.
The same thing happened to me.
I don’t work in pediatric oncology anymore.
However, I still teach and care for people, I still simplify complicated ideas, and I still help people make decisions when they’re overwhelmed.
The setting changed. The strengths didn’t.
→ Maybe reinvention isn’t becoming someone new.
Maybe it’s finally discovering where the person you’ve been all along fits best.
Fear Doesn’t Get The Final Vote
One thing Robyn said during the Live has stayed with me.
“Face your fear, and you’ll scare it away.”
I don’t think she meant fear disappears.
Mine certainly hasn’t.
I think she meant fear loses its authority the moment you stop letting it make every decision.
Looking back, I can’t think of a meaningful change in my life that didn’t involve some fear.
Changing careers.
Publishing.
Starting something new.
None of it felt comfortable.
Waiting until you feel fearless is a strategy that keeps you waiting and watching from the sidelines.
Pay Attention To What Keeps Finding You
Listening to Robyn tell her story, I noticed something else.
Almost every major change started with something surprisingly ordinary.
A conversation.
A sign outside an ice rink.
A financial question.
None of those moments looked life-changing at the time.
→ They were simply openings.
I wonder how many of those moments we miss because we’re too busy mourning the plan that didn’t work out.
I’ve started paying closer attention to the things that keep showing up.
The question I can’t stop thinking about.
The person I keep meaning to call.
The idea that refuses to leave me alone.
Curiosity has a funny way of pointing toward the next chapter long before certainty ever arrives.
Be Useful First
Another idea kept resurfacing throughout our conversation.
The people who keep looking for ways to help rarely stay stuck for long.
Not because they’re expecting something in return, but because helping people has a funny way of opening doors you never planned to walk through.
That’s exactly how Robyn and I met.
She responded to a Note where I invited people to ask questions about Substack.
One conversation became a phone call and the phone call became a workshop.
Eventually, it became this Live series.
Neither of us could have planned that.
→ It started with one person asking for help and another person saying yes.
Sometimes it’s really that simple.
Maybe It’s Evolution, Not Reinvention
By the end of our conversation, I realized something.
I’m not sure reinvention is even the right word anymore.
→ Reinvention sounds like replacing yourself.
→ Evolution feels more honest.
The athlete becomes an entrepreneur.
The nurse becomes a teacher.
The creator becomes a publisher.
→ Nothing gets thrown away. It all comes with you.
Looking back, almost every chapter I thought was an ending turned out to be preparation.
I just couldn’t see it at the time.
Life probably won’t follow the plan you made for it.
Mine certainly didn’t and maybe yours won’t either.
That doesn’t automatically mean you’ve taken a wrong turn.
Sometimes the detour is where you discover what you’re actually capable of and sometimes your edge only appears after the original map becomes useless.
Looking back, that’s been true for both Robyn and me.
Maybe that’s why I trust detours a little more than I used to.
In This Episode
Robyn and I discuss:
What competitive sports taught us about resilience and risk.
Buying and rebuilding a struggling ice rink.
Career pivots and transferable skills.
My journey from nursing to writing, trading, and publishing.
Why physically showing up landed my first nursing job.
Fear, action, and informed risk-taking.
How we met through Substack and created this Live series.
Why evolution may be a better word than reinvention.
↑ Replay Above
Resources From This Conversation
Follow Jess at NP Fellow Become The CEO of Your Health
Follow Jess at Nurse in the Market →
Follow Jess at Unstuck to Published →
Follow Robyn at Finding Your Edge →
Follow Robyn at Rare Finds - Luxury Travel →
Scan Robyn’s QR code to access her Youtube channel →
Thank You
Thank you so much for everyone who tuned into this live, your presence is truly appreciated, and to the people who are watching the replay, thank you!
See you next Friday at 12pm ET for our weekly show, stay tuned!
-Jess, The Creator & Robyn Levin
