Reimagine your career identity and embrace a new chapter with purpose
Learning how to navigate shifts in or a loss of your professional identity is a key resilience skill. Your career identity can be fluid, not fixed, so you can evolve in response to shifts in your needs, values, and goals as well as to adapt and transform in response to the environment (climate, country, community, and workplace).
Many of us are tightly bound to who we are because of what we do, and for good reasons—our careers give us direction, structure, and purpose. Add the layers of professional socialization and all those years of education and training. Layers of our dreams and those of other adults in our life.
It makes sense then that losing or choosing to let go of a long-held professional identity can feel like a profound loss.This is why career grief continues to be a main thread in my workshops and coaching.
What then when you choose to or are forced to reconsider this identity? What if the career you invested years, or even decades, in no longer aligns with your needs or values? Or, if the industry landscape itself has shifted, a career that leaves you without a clear path because the jobs aren’t there or are so fundamentally altered?
Through my work with clients, I’ve seen firsthand the grief and loss associated with releasing a career identity. This grief can feel disenfranchised—society doesn’t offer rituals for “career mourning” the way it does for other types of loss. And when grief has no designated outlet, it can freeze, leaving us feeling stagnant and disconnected from our sense of self.
It’s a journey–and one filled with a lot of reflection. Here are a few of my favorite questions to get you started. These will guide you in uncovering the core qualities, values, and gifts that make up who you are, separate from any specific role or career:
What do I naturally gravitate toward in my free time or during unstructured moments?
What would I pursue if there was no pressure to meet any specific outcome or goal?
What strengths do I feel energized by when using? How do these differ from skills I’ve learned out of necessity?
What work activities drain me, even if I’m capable of them and people tell me how good I am at them?
Releasing a professional identity can be intimidating, but it’s also an invitation to reimagine who you are and what you want to bring to the world. When we allow ourselves to grieve that loss, embrace the unknown, and cultivate new strength from within, we don’t just pivot careers—we transform our sense of purpose and alignment in life.
Want some additional support? Join us on December 6 for a free workshop. You’ll gain practical strategies to help you find clarity and build confidence in your next steps even when you can’t see exactly what all is next.