Self-Discovery Journey- Thoughts from the road

I've been in the desert driving around for almost a week on my self-discovery journey.

My time consists of wandering, exploring, getting lost, sitting with myself, absorbing natural beauty, being quiet, talking with my dog, listening to tales, riding my bike, painting, pondering the human condition, and considering if it's time for another nap.

I've come to realize this is adult kindergarten.

And, I'm loving it.

I've gotten the sprinter van fully stuck, like full body sweat in a panic stuck, 1.5 times, and both times I miraculously freed it by myself!

I've camped 20 feet from the edge of a cliff overlooking the most magnificent canyon (they don't call it the Little Grand Canyon for nothing), something I never dreamed I'd do.

I've biked into a landscape that was so barren, desolate, and covered in dark ominous rocks that I truly felt I'd arrived in Mordor at Mount Doom, and it was time to finally free myself of that wretched ring I was holding onto.

Yes, I paused there for a moment and actually tossed an imaginary ring into the wind as a symbolic gesture of letting go. And I felt a release.

In fact, the song that keeps playing most on my playlist is Release by Grace Potter. How fitting. Plus, it's a great to sing at the top of your lungs.

Mid-Journey TAKEAWAY

This self-discovery quest is part of my own self-development and part of the autoethnographic research that makes me an expert in professional identity growth and transformation.

I practice what I preach. I learn by doing, and I'm synthesizing how to bring these tools into the workforce to radically change how we "do" career development for the future of work.

I believe it starts with WHO we are.

Finding what makes us unique and how to communicate our value to others isn't easy.

It's a discovery process.
...a reconnection process.
...a self-awareness process.
...a self-worth process.

And it's something you must do if you're following a nonlinear career path.

As multifaceted, jacks/jills-of-all-trades who feel compartmentalized and pigeon-holed, you owe it to yourself to define who you truly are in your work.

It's time to discover your professional identity because you are greater than the sum of your parts.

So stop labeling yourself as your "parts."

I'll be running another live workshop to help a small group of people decode their professional identity and brand their hybrid professional value, so if you’re interested, check it out.