“Yes there are two paths you can go by, but in the long run there’s still time to change the road you’re on.” ~ Led Zeppelin, “Stairway to Heaven”
This week has been filled with ups and downs of very high and very low proportions. On the very high side, I was offered and accepted a new position at my company, an assignment so fantastic that I’m going to tempt fate a bit and say it’s a dream assignment. A blank sheet of paper and lots of opportunity with a fantastic team.
The very tough decision to make was to not conduct Innovation Station, my after-school program about product development, with Citizen Schools. With all this newness hitting of the job and the program at exactly the same time, I was feeling a little overwhlemed and pulled in too many directions. Usually I just allow myself to be overwhelmed and go with it. I’m trying to be better about this. Something had to give and that something couldn’t be my sanity or my time with my friends and family. So I will have to find another way forward for Innovation Station.
I’ve been feeling badly about this decision, recognizing that I couldn’t have it all, at least not right now. And then this quote made me feel a bit better. We can always change the road we’re on; we don’t always recognize that. We sometimes forget that almost everything that happens in our lives in something we choose. If we really want to make something happen, we can find a new avenue for it.
Yes, we can find the right path, but traveling the path takes time and we don’t always progress in the manner or in the time frame that we’d like to. Sometimes, we have to slow down, for our own sake and for the sake of our calling. It’s a tough, powerful lesson to learn and I’m trying.
The image above is not my own. It can be found here.
Published by Christa Avampato
The short of it:
Writer. Health, education, and art advocate. Theater and film producer. Visual artist. Product geek. Proud alumnae of the University of Pennsylvania (BA) and the Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia (MBA). Inspired by ancient wisdom & modern tech. Proliferator of goodness. Opener of doors. Friend to animals. Fan of creative work in all its wondrous forms. I use my business skills to create passion projects that build a better world. I’ve been called the happiest New Yorker, and I try hard to live up to that title every day.
The long of it:
My career has stretched across Capitol Hill, Broadway theatre, education, nonprofit fundraising, health and wellness, and Fortune 500 companies in retail, media, entertainment, technology, and financial services. I’ve been a product developer and product manager, theater manager, strategic consultant, marketer, voice over artist, , teacher, and fundraiser. I use my business and storytelling to support and sustain passion projects that build a better world. In every experience, I’ve used my sense of and respect for elegant design to develop meaningful products, services, programs, and events.
While building a business career, I also built a strong portfolio as a journalist, novelist, freelance writer, interviewer, presenter, and public speaker. My writing has appeared in The Washington Post, The Huffington Post, PBS.org, Boston.com, Royal Media Partners publications, and The Motley Fool on a wide range of topics including business, technology, science, health, education, culture, and lifestyle. I have also been an invited speaker at SXSW, Teach for America, Avon headquarters, Games for Change, NYU, Columbia University, Hunter College, and the Alzheimer’s Foundation of America. The first book in my young adult book series, Emerson Page and Where the Light Enters, was acquired by a publisher and launched in November 2017. I’m currently working on the second book in the series.
A recovering multi-tasker, I’m equally at home in front of my Mac, on my yoga mat, walking my rescue dog, Phineas, traveling with a purpose, or practicing the high-art of people watching. I also cut up small bits of paper and put them back together as a collage artist.
My company:
I’m bringing together all of my business and creative career paths as the Founder of Double or Nothing Media:
• I craft products, programs, and projects that make a difference;
• I build the business plans that make what I craft financially sustainable;
• I tell the stories that matter about the people, places, and products that inspire me.
Follow my adventures on Twitter at https://twitter.com/christanyc and Instagram at https://instagram.com/christarosenyc.
View all posts by Christa Avampato
“Yes there are two paths you can go by, but in the long run there’s still time to change the road you’re on.” ~ Led Zeppelin, “Stairway to Heaven”
Christa Avampato 
There are endless choices. So many (radically different) lives I could have been living right now had I simply made different choices when the times came for the various choices. I have finally come to feel deeply that somewhere within me ALL experience is mine. But in this finite life my focus is this and this and this moment which I experience with this body and this mind. Still, it’s all mine. There is no loss. Choose fearlessly and often :).
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Hi Trish,
I love this idea that all experiences are within us. What a beautiful sentiment. “Choose fearlessly and often” – what a great mantra to live by!
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We’ll miss you this semester but it will happen again when the time is right! Congrats on the new job!
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Hi Stacey,
I am so sad about it as I was so looking forward to the CS experience. You’re right: somewhere down the line it will work out!
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Christa such a bright future you have on your Hero’s Journey. To recognize that there are paths and to turn on one does not obliterate the other. Like good friends, they will always be there waiting for you should you need them. Good luck and congratulations!
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Hi Beth,
I love your comparison between our choices and good friends. It’s such a helpful thing to keep in mind. If we choose a path and it doesn’t work out, there’s no reason that we can’t double back and try a new avenue. Thank you for that.
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Christa – what an inspiring post! Thank you so much. And you know I will miss our day to day interactions, but I know you’ll knock their socks off in the new role.
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Awww….thanks, Lon. I’ll be on IM every day so I’ll only be a click away. 🙂
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