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Why You Don’t Need To Have A “Normal” Career

These days, it's a common trope: the creative freelancer with an epic job description and the skill set to match. The thing is, consciously getting there is difficult in and of itself, and managing such a scattered career is another challenge entirely.

Gabija Mitchell
is creative chameleon finding herself as a consultant and freelance producer in New York City. She doesn't have a job title, per se, but she's made a career out of having fun and connecting people, particularly through music and events. She has a night gig as the events director and brand ambassador at hip Caribbean mainstay Miss Lily's and she's even developing a line of skin-care products with friends. If all of that sounds dubious to you, well...it does to her, too.
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"I’m exactly what I said I wanted to be when I was a kid," she tells Refinery29. "Whatever it is, there’s not a term for it."
As she forges on, Mitchell is most interested in limiting her workload and only taking on projects she's passionate about. She letting go of saying yes more often than necessary. "It’s so important to say no," she says. "Because saying yes to the things that don’t make you happy, or aren’t worth your time, will weigh you down." Mitchell shares the story behind streamlining her career in the video, above.
This story is one of three in the Purge series, sharing individual tales of letting go in the new year.

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