Coincidence, happenstance, serendipity, fate, or the hand of god: Case studies in synchronicity - Article

Career Development Quarterly, March, 2002 by Mary H. Guindon, Fred J. Hanna

The oldest of four children, Billie was reared in a rural area. She had been an outstanding student throughout school but, at age 15, dropped out to take care of her 10-year-old twin brothers after her parents and other brother died in a car accident. She married a farmer 19 years older than she when she was 16 years old because he could provide a stable home for them. She soon had her own child to care for as well. She went to work as a bank teller when she turned 18 years old. She earned a general equivalency diploma and began community college at age 23, after her brothers had left home to join the military. Soon thereafter, her husband contracted cancer and died within a year. She stated that money had always been tight and that there was never enough money to go around. She sold the farm and had little left over after debts were paid. She and her son settled into an apartment near the college where she transferred her credits and got a job in the credit union, hoping to secure a better future for them. S he attained a bachelor's degree in sociology and continued into graduate work.

Through career counseling, Billie gained insight that the area of student affairs appealed to her because it put her in close contact with "college kids." She stated that she was cheated out of her teen and college years and believed that a residence life position could allow her to live the experience vicariously. However, she also realized that a residence life job would replicate many of her previous caretaking responsibilities, something she did not wish to repeat. In addition, she was determined that her son would have a normal high school experience, and she wanted to remain in the area. She also wanted to be able to send her son to college. However, with a lack of resources of her own and a low-paying job, she could not see how this could be possible. She had considerable student loan debt, felt stuck, and was despondent over her choices.

Billie was "career immature" and lacked knowledge of herself and of the world of work. Through the career/life planning process, Billie began to match her own interests with her skills and training. She discovered that she loved the college atmosphere and began to investigate other positions in the academic setting. She developed a repertoire of transferable skills and decided a career in financial aid would meet her needs well. She did not, however, see how she could find such a position when there were no openings in her college, the only one in the region. As she became enthusiastic about her new career direction, Billie was energized and hopeful. She reported that for the first time in her life she knew who she was and what she wanted to do. She, too, reported a transcendent sense of rightness about the direction of her life.

During the career counseling process, Billie described a dream she had before her husband died. The dream had a profound effect and had stayed with her over the years. Recently, she had experienced the dream again in a slightly different form. In the first dream, she sat on the banks of a river. A man dressed in a formal military uniform rode by on a white horse. He was dressed in white, and his horse's saddle was blue. He seemed to know her but stopped only long enough to tip his hat to her and ride on. She felt some sadness toward him, but she was mainly puzzled because he did not stop. In the dream, across the river a black horse with a red saddle was standing alone. She had the dream several times. The new version was identical, except for its ending. Again, the rider tipped his hat but this time galloped quickly by. Across the river, the black horse seemed to be beckoning her. She crossed the river, mounted the horse, and rode away.