Hey Eryn! Glad to hear your interview went so well! Sounds like the company asked some more thoughtful, quality questions than the standard rote interview questions that most places use.
It makes total sense that you had a mini-breakdown before this interview. As a Thriver, sometimes ANY job can feel like a distraction from living, which is all you really want to be doing. That’s completely normal. Before you potentially move onto later phases of this interview process, I think it would be particularly helpful to write out your list of non-negotiables/deal-breakers (if you haven’t already). For example, maybe you have a non-negotiable of having to “get ready” every day (even if it’s just to be on video, not necessarily going into an office) or a deal-breaker on how many hours you spend at a computer each day/week. Then ask about your non-negotiables in future interviews (Note: The “What to ask in an interview” worksheet in the Dream Job Bundle will help with that).
As far as the deeper questioning of whether you want to stay in this career path at all … it’s no wonder that question is sparking some serious fear. That could send you into total uncertainty! It seems pretty clear to me that you KNOW what you most love (being with animals and plants and creating beauty in all things). So now the question I want you to ask yourself is: “How much would I still love these things if I turned them into a career?” There’s probably not a clear-cut answer to this, so give it some real thought. Sometimes, especially for Thrivers, getting paid to do things they love can diminish the intrinsic joy. But it’s also totally possible that, given the right setting and circumstances, it could feel like you were simply getting paid to live your life. You know yourself better than anyone, so you’ll know best if putting pressure on the things you love most to provide for your financial needs would turn them into obligations, as opposed to joyful hobbies … or if it would feel like you were living your dream life. Give yourself some time to sit with that question and imagine yourself in some hypothetical scenarios.
And I love your question about Rachel’s “you can’t mess up the right thing” comment. I genuinely believe that you simply can’t mess up the right thing period. Maybe you can prolong it or make it more complicated than it needs to be, but if it’s for you (whether it’s a relationship, a job, or whatever), it’ll find a way back to you. However, if there is a caveat, I think it’s something more like, “you can’t mess up the right thing if you’re trusting your gut.” I think it has more to do with following your intuition than giving it your all (because there’s probably always “more” you could have done, especially according to your gremlin, so that’s a slippery slope toward self-criticism & self-blame).