The story of not having a story
8 months ago, I was asked to write about my story, share it with the outside world, and inspire others. I was hesitant. What should I write about? I don’t have a story yet. It took me 8 months to figure it out..
When I was asked to write about my story, my first reaction was “but what story? I don’t have one yet. I’m still figuring things out”.
At that time, I didn’t think of my personal and professional path as a story. I was a recent graduate, worked for a start-up, and did some voluntary things here and there outside of work. I had some ideas of what my career could look like but was also trying out different things to see what I like, what I don’t like, where I am good at, and where I am maybe not. I haven’t founded a startup at 25, didn’t make the Forbes 30 under 30 lists (yet) nor was I a keynote speaker or author of a book. So what should I write about? Nothing interesting, nothing spectacular, nothing inspiring.
2 years ago, I got involved in an initiative raising awareness for more diversity in Switzerland’s tech industry (Girls in Tech Switzerland). I’ve been exposed to so many incredibly inspiring women through this initiative — our team itself, role models from interviews we conducted, workshop leads we had events with, or ambassadors of other organizations. I’ve learned so much from all of them and I am extremely grateful to have been able to meet them. But being surrounded by all these inspiring women and their success stories was also becoming challenging for me. It made me think about what I achieved at that age? What impact have I had? Am I on the right track? Hearing about all their stories, reading their interviews, seeing what they achieved — it made my personal story so small. Not worth telling about. Some of you might think of imposter syndrome right now. I don’t want to talk about imposter syndrome in this blogpost (I can recommend this article for an interesting read into imposter syndrome). In fact, I actually do believe that I belong where I am and I trust that I’ve more than earned and deserved it. But what I do want to talk about is what I’ve realized over the past 8 months: Everyone has a story and it’s constantly evolving.
Finding your story
I only really realized this after having received a letter from my best friend. Seeing how I’ve struggled the last few months, she shared some wise words that were eye-opening to me. (And yes, they seem pretty straightforward, nevertheless, it’s so easy to forget about them). Your story is not determined by someone else. It’s not comparable to anyone else in this world nor does it need to match anyone else’s. You never see the full picture of anyone around you. Maybe you’re aiming for the same career as another person, or you’re having the same background. But how about all the other details? Your personal life? What you’ve experienced in the past? What other passions you have? Other skills that you’ve developed outside of what is visible to the outside world? These are all things that determine your story and are part of the equation. You’re coming from a different angle, from a different route. Maybe you’re not a keynote speaker at 25, but you’re a member of a meaningful organization. Maybe you haven’t founded your own company, but you’re kicking ass in your current job and you’re completely happy. Everything you do and did is what determines who you are & what your story is. And they are all worth telling.
Your story is not determined by someone else. It’s not comparable to anyone else in this world nor does it need to match anyone else’s.
Story in progress
A story doesn’t have an end date. It’s not just something that is done at one point. It’s something that is constantly progressing. Humans change, we grow, we develop and we advance. And that is a good thing. So why do we think that we don’t have a story yet? As if this is something that at one point we’re gonna reach. But the truth is, we’re never. We’re writing our own stories for our whole life, constantly evolving them.
And what about now?
Why I am writing this article? Why do I share this?
Because just as my friends and people around me have helped me believe in my story, I want to do the same. I am writing this article because I’ve experienced that there are so many other people out there not believing to have a story, not thinking what they’re doing is worth telling, being intimated by the world of “LinkedIn-achievements”, and not accounting for their personal & professional achievements high enough. And that’s why after 8 months of thinking about my story, having endless conversations about it, being inspired by my friends, family, partner, colleagues, and books (Read Lindsey Vonn’s Rise if you wanna be inspired on how to overcome obstacles and believe in yourself!), I finally got to sort my thoughts and put them into this article. I hope it may help you find & believe in your own story.
My story
And now we’re finally talking about my story.
My story starts in a small little village in the mountains of Switzerland. After my high-school time full of sport, fun, and academic achievements (yes, I was a little nerd) and a year living in South America, it was time to find out what I wanted to do with the rest of my life. My interests brought me to St. Gallen to study Business Administration, intending to pivot into organizational psychology. Student life came and brought me a lot of joy. I met people who shaped me both professionally and personally. Still deep into business, I slowly started to gain significant interest in digital topics, new technologies, and how it impacts our life. Writing my bachelor’s thesis about how Artificial Intelligence impacts competencies of future teachers (I did pursue an additional certificate in business education & teaching besides my studies, hence the focus on teachers) really fired up my curiosity about technologies. It became evident that I wanted to pivot into the tech industry. I started to get into coding, worked in digital environments and Saas Startups, and decided to pursue my Master’s at my Alma Mater in Business Innovation with a focus on Technology. Things started to get really interesting — developing my first Lego robot, writing many useless SQL queries for a twitter database, training my first neural network and embedding it in my own web application, or playing around with a Raspberry Pi to measure temperature. All this together with my curiosity secured me a job as a sales engineer, despite hardly fulfilling 50% of the requirements. I did a great job but also learned that sales engineering is not the place for me to get happy. I took the chance to pursue what I really like doing on a daily basis and transitioned into a product manager role for our software development department. And that’s where I am at now.
But that’s not all my story. That’s maybe a short version of my biography. My story is so much more. It’s everything I’ve done besides that. It’s how growing up in a mountain village has shaped me in so many ways. How I got to find calmness and peace in nature, it’s how I got to learn not to take everything for granted, it’s why I’ve always kept both my feet on the ground. And it’s all the incredibly strong relationships that I can count on. This is shaping me as much personally as professionally, strongly believing in how a healthy mind will let me perform better in any aspect of life & work.
And then there’s traveling. Living in South America for one year. Being on my own, not speaking any Spanish when I arrived there, getting used to a completely different culture, but learning to trust myself. It’s traveling to Brazil, diving into the openness and beauty of Brazilian souls. It’s studying abroad in Vancouver, learning about diversity. Or feeling small in the big city of New York while working from there.
My story also includes engagement. In student organizations at the university or in a voluntary position leading an NPO besides working. Dealing with responsibility and people relying on me showed me what passion and leading by example truly means: being exposed through my actions to the team, influencing others (positive or negative) with how I engage and lead. I myself was (and still am) shaped by the people and programs from other organizations. It’s my passion to give back to the community by engaging myself the right way.
And of course, my story also includes all the struggles. The struggle to find out what’s meaningful to me. The struggle to always wanting more and better. The challenge of failing and standing up again. The challenge of believing in yourself when no one else does. And the struggle of losing people along the way. But no story is all sunshine and glitter. Even in the “LinkedIn”-bubble of success, achievements & accomplishments, there’s a behind-the-scenes. Struggles and challenges are part of every story. It doesn’t mean just because you sometimes struggle, you don’t have a story. A story is not defined to be struggle-free. But it’s constantly evolving. And where there is change and growth, there are also struggles and challenges to learn from. It’s a good thing. You’re allowed to struggle.
So, this is my story. Unique, evolving & great. How it will always be.
(And if you’re interested in a long and more detailed version of my story, let’s talk personally 😊 )
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