Building a career and finding fulfilment in your work life isn’t easy when it’s just one, of a number of different balls that you’re having to juggle. But, it goes without saying that it is just so important. Especially when you think about, just how much of our lives we spend working.
Life is far too precious to waste doing something that makes you miserable. If you’re unhappy in your work, it’s always worth trying to find a way to make a change possible and head in a new direction. Yes, it might be hard in the short-term, but you will definitely reap the rewards in the long-term.
Lifelong Learning
One way to take the step towards a career change is by learning something new. As a teacher I’m seriously passionate about lifelong learning. It can have an unbelievably transformative effect! I am a prime example of how returning to education can have a dramatic impact on your quality of life. I know that I certainly wouldn’t be where I am now if I hadn’t gone to university after I had my babies.
When I started my degree I was 21, a very young mum on maternity leave, struggling to make ends meet. My baby had been born with a condition that would mean he needed a lot of regular, hospital treatment which meant I couldn’t go back to work. I was literally at rock bottom, education was not only my hope of a better future, but it was a welcome distraction from the reality of my son’s condition. (He’s fine now, but when he was born we didn’t know how good the outcomes would be.) It really did keep me going in some of my darkest days, because I knew it would help me to build a better life for my kids.
If you are really unhappy in your job and you want to try something new, then going to college or university to retrain is always an option, please don’t discount it! There is so much help available with funding, guidance and childcare, it won’t take any longer than 3 or 4 years which is nothing in a lifetime. Remember, life is not a dress rehearsal!! Do something you love!
Can you use your skills elsewhere?
I’m a teacher and I’m really lucky, I LOVE my job. But it hasn’t always been that way. Three years ago I was becoming seriously disillusioned, and was thinking about leaving teaching all together. I was convinced that I needed to do something completely different.
In my search for an alternative I came across a job advertised for online teachers, working from home! My first thought was ‘this is too good to be true!’ but I figured it was worth finding out more. I’m so glad I did. Now, I have a teaching job that is challenging, innovative and constantly evolving to keep up with new technology. Plus, I genuinely make a real difference to the students I teach.
Leaving mainstream teaching for online teaching was a huge leap of faith, I had to take a pay cut, reduced holiday and completely change the way that I worked, but my job satisfaction has rocketed and I have time to actually have a life. Luckily, my leap of faith has really paid off.
We all have transferable skills. Can you find another industry that values your skills? Can you develop them so that you can work elsewhere? Could you use your current skill set to work for yourself? There are always alternatives, it’s just that sometimes we have to be seriously creative with our thinking!!
Emma Drew is an inspiring example of someone who has used her skill set to develop an online business and a career that allows her to live the life that she wants to. She shares all of her hints and tips for making money from home at her blog EmmaDrew.info
Working from home is a goal that lots of people would like to achieve, but there are some challenges. You can read more about those challenges here.
Careers and ChallengeClare
As the blog grows I will be focusing on various aspects of careers and the challenges they can present. This will include; career development and change, further education, work-life balance, working from home and blogging. Sharing experiences and ideas for how to tackle the challenges we face in building fulfilling careers that don’t have a negative impact on other aspects of our lives.
I also hope to set up groups on social media so that we can build a community, to share tips and ideas. Supporting each other, nailing the challenges we face in building a career that we love and balancing it with the demands of other aspects of our lives .
My own personal challenge is to continue developing my expertise as an online educator and blogger. What’s your career challenge?
English (UK)
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