Jobs from scratch: finding your footing
Being unsure or even clueless about your ideal form of employment can be draining, overwhelming, embarrassing, and downright daunting. So much of our nonwork self can be tied up into this situation including our value as a human being and our very financial and physical survival. You could also be between or without an ideal job for any number of traumatic reasons including termination, social tension, and complete burn out to name a few. How do you separate enough from all that emotional heaviness in order to accurately explore the options out there?
Five tips for finding foundation
Address your basic needs: First, consider your basic needs of keeping yourself fed, sheltered, and mobile enough. Consider social connections you already have who could help temporarily, soup kitchens, churches, and short term side hustles that could possibly get you by for now.
Talk to someone: Second, to address any traumatic events that might have landed you in this position, appoint someone you trust, whether that be a mental health therapist, a community leader, or even a close friend, to talk to on a regular basis. This way, you have someone to listen to your unique story and validate thoughts and feelings you experienced all along the way. If you’re really lucky, they will also ask you open-ended questions about what part of your situation you would love to shift and ideas you have about putting that shift into motion. The more supportive people you have around you, cheering you on, the better you’re going to feel about the whole process.
Time in planner: After you’ve sought out support for your physical body and your emotions, the rest is just a matter of creating a daily routine of open minded wonder toward options for your next ideal occupational steps So, ask yourself “if there was an ideal time of day that I would be most primed for exploring my next professional steps, what would that be?” Once you have the answer, label and reserve that block of time in your planner for contemplating you and your next steps. This could be as brief as just twenty minutes to start. The most important part is that it becomes a daily habit.
A place just for you: Ask yourself what kind of setting would be most helpful for your research/exploration. Would you need a cozy quiet corner of your house, your habitual table at your favorite cafe, a secluded outdoor space, or the ritualistic discipline of a library, etc. ? Think about ideal senses for this type of thinking as well. For example, background music, something to sip on as you think, temperature, texture of whatever you would sit on, the texture of your clothing, scents in the air etc.
Accountability plan: Also, think about people with whom you could share your goal of creating this habit and report your progress afterwards. This could look like calling or texting this person when you start and finish your time, having them come sit with you while you explore the question, or come with you to the library or bookstore while they explore their own next steps and you converse with each other at the end to share your findings. A great starter activity for this time is pursuing a library or bookstore and writing down, out of the topics available, what naturally peaks your interest.
To wrap up, navigating a total loss of ideas about long term employment can seem very overwhelming, and figuring out a starting point is often the toughest part. However, the tips above have hopefully jogged your brain about choices for your feet to land on those very first steps and for foundations to support and gradually build momentum for your unique brain on its way to your next ideal employment. Stay tuned for next time on exploring each idea.