How do I take control of my career instead of letting it just happen?

You chart your career with intention. You steer it rather than letting it happen to you, and that is a real form of ownership over your one working life. Most people let the current carry them and call it fate. You took the wheel, and that changes everything downstream. The strength of steering is that your career becomes an expression of your choices rather than an accident of circumstance. The quiet risk is steering so tightly that you miss the good things you did not plan for. A firm hand on the wheel is wisdom; a grip that cannot loosen can shut out the unexpected turn that would have been better than your route. So keep steering, and leave a little room for surprise. When something unplanned but promising appears, weigh it honestly instead of dismissing it because it was not on the map. You have earned the wheel. The mark of steering well is knowing both when to hold your course and when a better road has just opened.