As I was figuring out what I wanted to do when I returned from teaching in Bogotá, Colombia, I randomly watched the Netflix documentary Heal. The documentary really spoke to me and inspired me to contact a spiritual healer.
After googling spiritual healers in Madison, Wisconsin, I found Vida. When I met with Vida the first time, everything started making sense. She explained that this crazy upheaval I’m going through is called my Saturn Return.
Ever hear of a Saturn Return? I hadn’t. Astrologically, what happens is that the planet Saturn orbits around the Earth. It takes about 29.5 years for Saturn to return to the same position it was in when you were born. This upheaval usually occurs about 3 years before you turn 30. Yes. That also means you’ll experience this again when you turn 60 and 90.
Basically, your Saturn Return is a coming of age experience. It hits everyone differently. The AstroTwins, Tali and Ophira Edut, did an excellent job explaining a Saturn Return as a “boot camp” in their article Your Saturn Return Wants to Help You Grow Up. Here’s How to Survive It. I liked their analogy that “As the planetary personal trainer, Saturn breaks you down, blows the whistles on your bad habits and makes you do another set of reps until you’re fatigued”. This boot camp is to prepare you for your next phase in life. Luckily, this phase will be more settled and not as insane, which I’m very much looking forward to. That’s saying a lot as someone who’s lived abroad for 4 years and has never been ready to “settle down”.
When I returned from Colombia, I took a job that I thought was “perfect”. Pretty quickly, I realized that I’d made a huge mistake. So, I started interviewing like crazy for a new job but kept getting rejected. Then on December 30th, 2019, my right arm puffed up like a balloon. When the swelling and pain did not go away after a few days, I contacted my doctor. Low and behold, I had a massive blood clot in my shoulder. That meant off the birth control and on the blood thinners. With Saturn sending me a sobering curveball, it was time to pause and reevaluate.
In the process of desperately applying and interviewing for jobs, I’d learned about some super cool companies that I wanted to work for. But, they did tech stuff, which I couldn’t do. However, they’d hired people with similar backgrounds to me who’d done this thing called a coding boot camp.
Ever hear of a coding boot camp? I hadn’t. I only knew about fitness boot camps. Basically, fitness boot camps and coding boot camps are the same. You get your ass kicked for a short period of time. Except, one program gets your ass into shape, while the other program teaches you how to code. As luck would have it, I discovered Lambda’s Full Stacks Web Development program, AND I got accepted into it.
My Saturn Return has been an insane boot camp that’s led me to another boot camp! Although I severely underestimated the humbling experience that my Saturn Return had in store for me, I’m starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Luckily, this time I’m better prepared to handle another boot camp.