I’ve been disqualified from many of the professional paths I tried to pursue.
Here’s a few: Disqualified from both Air Force and Navy flight school. Disqualified from being an astronaut. Disqualified from an expat assignment in the UK. Disqualified from a company-funded master’s program at the University of Colorado.
Disqualification comes from the external. It’s them deciding about you. It’s the opposite of being chosen (or maybe, it’s a negative choice). It’s a form of victimhood. You are a victim of somebody else’s choice.
Although you can work to meet the qualifications, look good on paper, and build the relationships that may lead to being chosen, ultimately, you don’t have control. They do. That’s not on you.
But you can still pursue.
When you pursue in earnest, you learn stuff. You learn stuff about yourself, about systems, and about people.
And you learn that maybe what you want to pursue is something where you can choose yourself.
