The pandemic has made me more comfortable opening up with our career counseling clients.
A recent client said as she conveyed her dread of heading back to the office upon the pandemic ending: “I just feel anxious all the time, wondering what I am going to do for my career.”
I remember that feeling. I started my career as an attorney. I liked my work in the public sector where I was doing good. I did not like my work in the private sector where I was doing little good.
When I went into private sector, my anxiety about what I wanted to do grew so much that I wondered if my normally perpetual cheerfulness was vanishing for good.
When I committed myself to becoming an education-entrepreneur, my career seeking anxiety disappeared. Sure, I had stress about building a business, money, and all that comes with entrepreneurship but I also had a great deal of joy related to building my career.
When I began career counseling, I realized that I was almost messianic in my zeal to get others to find a career they love. I wanted everyone to escape the anxiety and experience joy. “It doesn’t have to be that way.” I would tell clients. You don’t have to be anxious about your career. You can be joyfully building it instead.
I’ve tempered my unbridled enthusiasm a bit as I realize that “I know” it can be done because I did it. My career counseling clients don’t really know because they are still seeking.