Goodbye, LinkedIn

Dear LinkedIn,

It's time we said goodbye.

On your site, people who know who they are, or

where they're going or,

where they want to go,

tell each other their strengths and see how they can help each other.

You ask simple questions – What do you do? What do you want to do?

As to the first, I'm ashamed to tell you. I don't want to give the impression I'm eager to travel down the implied career paths. I've neither the temperament nor patience for what I know of the insurance industry.

As to the second question – I don't know.

You see, you're for the assured. For those who know where they fit at any given moment. For those who have the faintest inkling of a plan.

But I've never known. Not when I was fourteen, not now. But I was a high school honor student and college bound and I'd been told I was smart and smart people have plans and know where they're going so

I made something up. Hobbled together interests and tried to meet others' expectations. And when that didn’t work out, I tried something else. Patched together newly discovered aptitudes and tried to meet others' expectations. And when that didn’t work out, I tried something else. Went back to childhood interests and tried to meet others' expectations…

Surely you felt it. The number of times I've drastically changed my profile. I know it doesn't sit well with you. You have your categories. You want simple professional definitions.

I've tried time and again, but I can't give you what you need to function at your best. And I can't keep making up careers to pursue. I've been a ship tossed to and fro in the ocean. I'm tired of being seasick.

Perhaps one day, we can be together again. But until then,

Adieu,