Success is Subjective: Helping parents of college students accept that dropping out is okay

Episode 107 - There is Nothing to Prove! —with John Tucker

November 24, 2021 Joanna Lilley, MA, NCC Season 2 Episode 107
Success is Subjective: Helping parents of college students accept that dropping out is okay
Episode 107 - There is Nothing to Prove! —with John Tucker
Show Notes

Getting all A’s, being on the Dean’s list, going to law school, etc, etc. All of these metrics that make it appear that you have it all together and are doing ‘enough’. Though, does it all really mean anything? Sure, they might make your parents content but is that enough to stick with something you hate for the rest of your life? 

John Tucker, Academic Director and Admissions Director at Wisdom Ranch Vocational Gap Year Program, started his career journey nowhere near where he finds himself today. All throughout school, John felt the need to constantly prove himself to his parents and make them proud. He went on to take that huge pressure into college, getting on the Dean’s list and going to law school. It wasn’t until he was randomly introduced to a wilderness program and offered to take a much needed break when John finally found something that made him happy and proud to the extent that for the first time it didn’t even matter what anyone else had to say.

On this episode of Success is Subjective, John joins Joanna to share his journey going from law school to working in wilderness therapy. John’s trajectory was nothing near what he imagined yet everything he could’ve wanted. Listen in for John’s insight on how his life and career trajectory has taught him how there is no end all be all, and how much pressure that has taken off his shoulders after a life of trying to prove himself.

What You Will Learn

  • The pressure John felt growing up to be good enough for his parents
  • Why John went to law school
  • When he decided to become a professor instead
  • How John got introduced to wilderness therapy which at the time was a foreign world to him
  • The complete 360 career change he decided to make after exploring wilderness therapy
  • Career paths are not always linear and that is okay!
  • The work that John does 25 years later now at Wisdom Ranch 
  • The importance in learning to keep moving literally and figuratively 

Connect with John Tucker

  • Wisdom Ranch
  • Admissions: Call: 208.352.2676
  • Email john@wisdomranch.org

Connect with Joanna Lilley