The About-Face

I have been orbiting people around the military all of my life. While never directly engaged in that life, I have picked up a few terms.

And that term is about-face.

I’m sure you have heard it shouted in some recruits face in a war movie but what is an about-face? It is a command to turn in the opposite direction. And that is what I feel like when I pivoted into tech.

I had a dream of using my degree in Journalism for writing. Whether is be for movie scripts, articles, or even my own book; I knew I wanted pen to paper or at least the clack of keys as I stayed up all night typing.

That dream never fulfilled because of the bills.

I had to make a decision. To keep struggling or to keep struggling and find the better path forward.

So, I did an about-face.

I turned away from a dream I had nursed for years, not because I stopped loving it, but because life demanded more from me. And instead of standing still, I chose momentum. I chose tech.

At first, it felt like betrayal. Like the last few years of my life meant nothing. I was grieving for a life I would never live. It was like I was trading writing with math. I was writing code instead of words. But then something surprising happened: I found rhythm in the logic, beauty in the structure, and yes, even creativity in the code.

Tech wasn’t the death of my dream; it was the evolution of it.

Now, I build things people use. I solve problems that feel like puzzles. And I still write, just in a different language. And as much as I loved my original vision, I realize now that dreams don’t have to stay fixed. They can adapt. They can grow.

That’s what an about-face really is. It’s not running away. It’s reorienting yourself toward opportunity.

So if you’re someone standing at the edge of a pivot, wondering if changing direction means giving up… it doesn’t. Sometimes it means you’re finally starting to move in the right one.

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