I didn’t expect 2023 to end the way it’s ending. At the start of October, I finished up a great job at a great agency. For the first time in my life, I didn’t know what was next professionally. I still don’t.
I have always known, and been focused on, the next step. I reckon many of the creative, entrepreneurial, ambitious people in this industry are the same - drawing motivation from setting your sights on something. But focusing only on the road ahead has previously blinkered me to unexpected opportunities, blocked my peripheral vision. There have been occasions I haven’t seen the beginning of a narrow, pebbly, half-concealed path here, an unpaved detour there. If I have spotted one out of the corner of my eye, I haven’t let myself consider it. Keep looking ahead. Keep driving.
So it has been deeply uncomfortable to find myself here. Dropped off in a carpark, charged with deciding which direction to head in, which path to find my way back to or start making.
I feel anxious about that uncertainty, fearful at not having an answer to the question, ‘What do you want to do next?’
I’ve been freelancing on interesting, varied projects for a range of editorial and agency businesses, buying myself the time I need to marinate in big questions and arrive at answers that feel good and right. Questions like: What brings me joy? Purpose? What do I want to spend the bulk of my week, my life, doing? Who do I want to spend the bulk of my week, my life, with? And where will I feel connected, like I belong, a part of something bigger?
This liminal time has also gifted me: The ability to properly rest. To meet and chat and reconnect with people I haven’t had the reason or time to for years. To zoom out a little and really assess the industry. To write. Read. Watch TV. Be at home with my dog as she recovered from her fourth surgery in a year. Be fully present for festive and social events. Walk. Get to those health appointments I’ve been putting off. To breathe. Immerse myself in the world.
How often do we get a window of time to dedicate to these things, the most special and important things?
I know that in three or six or twelve months, I’d be really mad at myself if I wished this time away. If I didn’t truly soak up what it’s giving me.
And I know I’m not alone in wrestling with the discomfort of a forced pause, the arrival at a career junction. Trade press outlets worldwide have been littered with headlines about redundancies, exits, shuffles.
So, if you too are finishing the year unsure of what 2024 will hold for you, uncertain - maybe anxious - around what’s next, here are a few things to consider:
- Writing a Best of 2023 list: Everywhere you look right now, you’ll see ‘best of the year’ round ups or ‘top of the year’ lists. Why not write one for yourself, featuring your best achievements over the past 12 months, professionally and personally? Even when the year feels ‘bad’, or wasted, there are bright spots. I bet you did a lot.
- Making a list of your most important ‘ingredients’. I caught up with the wonderful Helen Graney, CEO of Weber Shandwick and Jack Morton in Australia. We spoke about how tricky it can be to work out what next career step is best, and she said this: You can’t guarantee the right title or the right company. But you can decide what your ingredients are, and look for opportunities that match them.
- Is managing a team the most important thing to you? Flexibility? Working with an organisation that already has momentum, or being part of building it? Think about the things you most enjoyed about your last role, and the bits that were toughest. Once you have your ingredients, you have a framework to help assess opportunities.
- Resting. In the way that feels best for you. I spoke to three psychologists for an article about rest recently, and a comment by Dr Anastasia Hronis really struck me. She suggested making a list of all the things you’d like to do during some time off. Then everyday, pick something from the list that matches your mood and energy levels, and don’t feel guilty about it. A day to sleep, or to sloth around on the couch, or to walk and stretch, or to read or complete a puzzle, or to feel really good about doing that one small thing you’ve been putting off for 12 months.
- Doing one thing to get closer to the answer of ‘what’s next?’ A message, a coffee catch up in January, an application, that ingredients list.
This discomfort won’t be forever, but it could well be formative. Just like the best creative ideas, consider treating this time with a light touch, drawing a circle around it to think and dream, protecting it but not smothering it. Don’t get too fixated on the perfect outcome; if you do, you’re not giving yourself space to shift, to morph, to change your mind, to end up somewhere better than you ever could have imagined.
Brittney Rigby, Freelance Comms Lead, Journalist, and Editor
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