How Many Different Iterations Will There Be to Your Life?

The season of spring has always been the time of rebirth in nature.  As the calendar moves into April, and the first full calendar month of spring has arrived for 2012, our quote this month focuses on the theme of POSSIBILITIES.  The quote is attributed to Anna Quindlen, who is an American columnist and journalist, often published in the New York Times.  When I read it on one of the quote calendars I possess, I felt it perfect for this coming month.  The quote reads: “The life you have led doesn’t need to be the only life you’ll have”.

When you work as I do as a career coach, you often meet people at one of the lower points in their life.  Often they have just lost a job.  Others may meet you when they have been looking for work for several months.  One of the first questions often asked of someone out of work is what did they do in their previous employment?  Many times the answer begins, “I am a” and then is followed by the occupation the person previously held.  Some cannot get past that answer.  On the other hand there are others who will answer that same question with a statement which begins “I am looking to find a position” and follow it with a particular field of interest.  Sometimes that field may be similar to the one from which they have just come.  Other times it may be entirely different.  In either case, the way the answer is stated shows me that the individual is focusing on what is to come next, as opposed to being anchored to what they have done in the past.

I’m currently working with a client who has had a successful career to date, yet has reached the point of his life that he knows it is time to move forward to the next stage.  Having had health issues in his past and raised his family that his sons are now on their own, he and his wife are building the next steps of their life.  They already have purchased a home in another state that will be the home they will move to over the next 12 to 18 months to begin that next phase.  He can see selling the business he has built but continuing to serve many in the client base as he still enjoys that aspect of his business.  Being a partner in another business in which he may invest, is still an additional possibility.  There are also charitable causes that are near to him that he now sees having more time which he can devote his skills and expertise.  When he first started working with me several months back he was concerned about his future, especially in terms of his health issues.  However, after realizing that those concerns were stopping him in his tracks from moving his life forward, he is more invigorated each time I see him in regards to what is to come for him and his spouse.

Individuals are living longer than ever before.   Life expectancy for many easily projects into their 80’s and for others even into their 90’s.  We each have a choice as to how we see our lives unfolding.  It is obvious that the world around us is closer and more connected than ever before given that we have the internet, 24 hour news stations and the ability to know something is happening in another part of the planet instantaneously.  Some of that can be frightening to some.  However, for others, it opens up an entire world of possibilities.  I have seen it written that the average person graduating today can expect to have four to five different careers and 12 to 13 different actual jobs during their work career.  That averages out to about a new job every 4 to 5 years and a new career every ten years.  While that may have been unfathomable in the past, it is far more the norm even in the present and certainly in the future.

Therefore, if you are beginning your April and feel as if you are either stuck where you are or not sure what is next for yourself, remember you have the choice to make your life anything you want it to be.  It may mean you may have to be retrained or reeducated in skills that you lack which may help you going forward.  It could mean volunteering at a type of work you may see yourself doing in your future so as to get experience and to make connections in the field you seek.  Or it could mean changing the style and the way you do what you do, (possibly moving from full time to part time work or from working for a large company to a smaller one).  The life you have led, whether you have enjoyed it or found it lacking, has gotten you to this point.  That which is ahead you can choose to make what you want it to be.  Those two truths will continue to be with you as you continue forward on your life journey and decide whether or not you choose to explore the possibilities of what’s next for your life, or remain permanently tied to the life which you have led.