What Do You Want to Be When You Grow Up?

Utilize That Fork in the Road to Decide
 
I’ll start with a disclaimer – I’m not a career coach. I’m a psychotherapist and have counseled people about work-related issues, like stress, improving interactions with co-workers, etc. But my experience is in the clinical rather than the business sphere.

Having had about a zillion jobs, I am somewhat of an expert on zigzagging career paths. A recent personal “fork in the road” has made me re-evaluate the type of work (besides writing, which I love, but doesn’t pay the bills yet) I might want to do. And since I won’t be able to retire until I’m 92, I’d like to explore some new, interesting work- something more than a paycheck, but maybe less than a “calling.” We’ve all heard career advice that says that you should think about what type of work you would do even if you weren’t getting paid. Starting there, my list would be:

* Working around horses (I never did get that pony as a kid)
* Reading
* Watching bad reality TV
* Making snarky comments
* Eating good food/drinking good wine (moderate amounts, of course)

Okay, I guess only the first one sounds like it has real job potential. In my therapy work, I’ve suggested laid-off patients fill some of their time volunteering in a field in which they might have an interest to work. Shadowing someone is also a good way to determine if a specific career might be right for you and shouldn’t be reserved just for middle-school kids.

At a recent lunch, a friend mentioned a new horse ranch that is doing equine therapy with autistic kids. Several years ago, I did volunteer work for a race horse adoption group and loved it, but moved too far away to stay with the program. Hmmm, in an equine therapy setting, I could get my horse fix; call on my clinical skills and see if it’s something I might want to do. Monday, I’m going to check it out to see if they could use volunteers.

So if you’re where I am and might want to pursue something new, give some thought to the following – What are your passions? If it was feasible and real-life barriers were removed, what careers might you look into? Maybe it’s the next stop on your work-life path.

This is a post by Nancy LaFever. You can read more from her at the Centre for Emotional Wellbeing blog.