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Your Career Journey

Guest post by: Terri Levine

Article Overview: People think of life as a journey with their career just a part of it, like a hobby, little realising that your career journey is not just a part of your life, it is your life. A life shared with family and friendships, but life nonetheless.

Your Career Journey

First, realize that change is constant. As humans we have a wonderful ability to adapt and to keep gaining knowledge. It is up to us to search for and to create our own opportunities. We need to move away from the belief in stable jobs and companies and realize we can continue to evolve in all areas of our lives. It is critical that we listen to our own inner voices, hear our own passions and follow our own hearts. Our dreams and our wishes are what brings guidance to our careers. Stating our needs, values, our interests and beliefs and fully realizing them and acknowledging them will allow us to create the vision for where we want to go. It is up to us where to go. We no longer get pulled along and we no longer need to settle for mediocrity or second best.

Embrace the magic of this journey. Every time you listen to your heart, put aside a myth, or make a choice, you are becoming empowered. This is a wonderful journey to be enjoyed. You now have the opportunity to really get to know the "you" inside. The one that has a vision but wasn't willing to share it because of the myths that were believed. This is the time to remember how to dream and how to use your creativity to fulfill your vision.

As you take this journey, open your eyes and your heart to your assets and search for how they can transfer to a career that you love. The goal of the journey is find the work you love and love the work you do so that doing it is something you would choose even without a pay check. Instead of feeling helpless and finding it difficult to accept what the present has become, take control and then assure yourself that change is a way of learning and of taking responsibility for learning. The message is that we need to be aware and we need to be ready for change. It is up to you to take action and to move yourself forward.

During this journey, reach out and ask for help. Asking for help is not a sign of weakness but a sign of inner strength. Seek new resources, make new contacts and use them. You have many allies in your life. If you need help with the tools and strategies for making the career journey, seek the help of a career coach to help you create the initiative. Whatever you do, don't waste your time or opportunities.

Finding a career that matches your own personal interests and abilities is a wonderful process. When one knows themselves and understands their own interest, values, needs and abilities, then work becomes a way to express yourself and offer yourself in valuable ways to the world. It becomes a way to share your interests and your talents. While you now realize that your interests and skills can change over time, you can now begin to understand that when they do you can move on to another occupation that will again fulfill you. If work is not about a job but about doing something that makes you happy, then it is easy to understand that having different careers over the course of a lifetime is perfectly acceptable.

When you went to PT school, for example, had you considered your interests, abilities, and values? Did you explore the alternatives thoroughly? Many times people end up in a given career unaware of what to do when their field changes or they change. If your goal is to be happy doing what you enjoy and work is just one way of expressing yourself, then you will expect work to be a wonderful, exciting place where you can be happy.

Begin living your life and not the one that has been expected of you. Do the work that matches your values and the work that brings you energy and fulfillment. People who work happy are people who are drawn to their work naturally. It brings them delight and they have enthusiasm for what they do. Don't just let your fantasies slip away ... open the door ... discover the journey... embrace the magic and work yourself happy.

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Article Tags: career planning, job satisfaction, work life balance



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