Today is National Entrepreneur’s Day, and I shared this picture of an entrepreneur’s journey, which I do more times than you probably think!
This journey reminded me of a client who I worked with, who was suffering from depression and felt they had no purpose. My heart went out to them not just because they’re a client but because they were so young and had recently left school. For someone like myself of maturing years, it’s easy to look back at this time and see how the ‘world was my oyster’, free of commitments and obligations and expect someone in that situation now to see the same. To my client, the future was overwhelming, lacked direction, purpose and felt an expectation to not only know what they wanted to do as a career but to also be highly successful.
A simple task I set turned everything around for them. The task was to interview someone they were close too, such as their parents about their career, starting from leaving school. It was a revelation to discover that their parents had several jobs, some unusual, before landing on a career. My client learnt that we are all on a journey, they will find their way, and it’s ok not to know right now what they want to do. A sense of purpose was created by looking more to the immediate future instead of one so far away.
When we see someone being successful at something we don’t stop to think of the journey they have had to get there if we do, we tend to think it was easy or it all fell into place – usually, that’s not the case.
So next time you hear a friend or family member struggling, share your journey it might help them more than you think.
In the spirit of sharing; from school, I went to university and had a disastrous first year and didn’t complete my Fine Arts degree, I went home and got a job working in accounts, which I did in various forms for many years. During this time, I met my husband, and we had our son when my son started school, I was working part-time two full days a week, and I hated myself. I wasn’t the mother I wanted to be. I stumbled across a massage course at the local college and decided to take the plunge and my self-employment years began. Being self-employed enabled me to be the mother I wanted to be; however, it also brought its challenges and provided many opportunities for growth! To date, I’ve been self-employed for 15 years with three distinct phases, the first being a massage therapist, the second as a Cognitive Hypnotherapist and Relationship Coach, the third, it’s just starting, still as a Relationship Coach but also as a teacher and sage.
I would love to hear your journey or if you’ve had an unusual job, post them in the comments.
Michala x
Founder of The Happiness Couch
