Howdy family!
Amid my job search, the stress and disappointment of many rejections have left me to pause applying for new jobs. It's also caused me to take a step back and reflect on what I want to do. What are my passions? What parts of teaching do I enjoy? What skills do I feel I want to continue working at in my next profession? I've asked myself these questions many times, and I've also been asked by both supervisors and colleagues to try to help me map out my next career steps. But every time I reach a stalemate and shrug my shoulders. "I don't know what I want to do. I feel like I could do anything. I have many passions, not all related. I'm good at many things, but I want to learn how to do more things." This back and forth is usually followed by a contingent question: Do you want to stay in education? And after this question, I find myself even more frustrated than I began. Not having a straightforward answer makes me question myself in a way that undermines all the hard work I've done in the last three years.
I recently started a new audible, Barbara Sher's Refuse to Choose: Using All Your Interests, Passions, and Hobbies to Create the Life and Career of Your Dreams. In the book, she coins the term "scanner" that she uses to describe those persons with many passions, many skills, and many desires to accomplish. Her description of a scanner matches a lot with what I knew about the characteristics of Manifesting Generator within the human design system. When listening, I felt so seen and so validated - I wasn't a failure and I didn't lack self-awareness just because I couldn't pinpoint my next move. It was okay that I was a multifaceted jack-of-all-trades with my hands in several different pots. It was okay that I couldn't identify my next job title. Maybe it didn't exist yet, because maybe it would be one of a kind just like I am. What job title do you have for a transitioning teacher who is passionate about education, yet thrives on creativity, has a talent for public speaking, and highly infectious energy, all the while loves analyzing data, building transformative relationships, connecting people with resources and opportunities while leading others towards excellence and high achievement? If you have any suggestions, please let me know or send them to me!
Another takeaway from the book is that it's okay to pivot when you have completed your purpose in a place. Sher uses the analogy of honeybees that travel from flower to flower, collecting nectar from each on their way. We don't critique the amount of time that the bees stay at each flower, rather we understand that they move on when they have gotten what they came for. This analogy can also apply to my career journey. I can be content with knowing that I have done what I've come to do in my teaching career. I've already collected my nectar, so now it's on to the next flower. While I wait to find that flower, I'll continue doing the things that bring me joy: writing on my blog, creating content to document my life, spending quality time with my children, continuously learning and developing, telling my story to whoever will listen, all the while building my personal brand and marketing myself. There isn't one specific title, industry, or niche I can subscribe to. I will allow myself to float and travel as the honeybee does, making a positive impact everywhere I go.
I challenge you to make love to life more often and follow your own passions and inner voice toward personal and professional success and satisfaction.
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