As National Careers Week draws to a close here in Australia, I want to share with people the message that your career is holistic and more than ‘just a job’.
The term career over recent times has broadened from the traditional concept of paid work, to viewing career as involving the whole person and how people balance their paid and unpaid work including personal life roles e.g. family, community, voluntary work.
I said farewell to a friend and colleague this week, as they had accepted an opportunity to work closer to their home. During their farewell speech a couple of things they said reinforced the importance of seeing your career as being holistic with your whole self
💙 Last year saw a workforce review – this had them considering by the end of the year, whether they would want to potentially relocate for work
💙 As a knock on of the work force review, they started to reflect and consider what would they do if their job was no longer available
💙 They reflected and identified what matters most to them
💙 From the pandemic, they have been reconsidering their priorities – one of these to be ‘there’ more for their young children and not spend as much time ‘at work’ including travel time
💙 One of our colleagues became seriously ill during the pandemic (I personally believe from the stress lockdowns in 2020 caused), and as such, my colleague who we said goodbye to, told us that what happened to our colleague, was a catalyst for making changes to their own work life integration
I finished work later than usual this week, and took the time to walk home, listening to a favourite playlist; something I haven’t been able to do recently due to illness. I’d forgotten about how relaxing this can be after a stressful day, until I looked up and saw the stars appearing in the night sky.
Without thinking, seeing the Southern Cross shining brightly in the night sky for a brief moment transported me back to my childhood. I remembered sitting by the bonfire in our backyard (we were blessed with a very large backyard) toasting marshmallows, whilst dad taught me about the constellations, and how here in Australia, you can use the two pointers to guide you to the Southern Cross and other surrounding stars. I like to think of this analogy in guiding my lifelong career development
That was a moment of pure joy, and helped to nourish my mind. I finished off the evening nourishing my body and relaxing with making some ginger and sesame glazed pork stir fry. Cooking is something I love to do to help with relaxation and mindfulness
Below are links to a couple of posts I’ve previously shared containing some tips, activities and strategies when considering a career change and/or developing self-clarity e.g., identifying what makes your ‘heart sing’
Spencer Niles (2021) describes self-clarity as akin to building your house on the sand. It can collapse easily if you don’t have ‘self-clarity’ before you build your house (career). Building material include:
💙 Skills
💙 Interests
💙 Personality Types
💙 Values
💙 Education & where it is taking you
I hope the below links will be of help for you
Holistic Career Development Coaching 