Career Change after disease

If you have recently recovered from a disease and are wanting a different life then this blog is for you.

It's often assumed by people that we will 'return to normal' when in fact that is rarely possible and yet your life can get better.

Having to make changes such as slowing down or acknowledging your true feelings will leave you wanting to do something new. Like Rebecca Loncraine who took up gliding after surviving breast cancer and now writes about her passion as well as giving talks about flying to organisations supporting people with cancer. Her ambition is to enjoy every day.

Experiencing and then recovering from serious disease is a wake-up call.

You may think about what caused or triggered your disease such as diet and other lifestyle factors such as your stress levels on a daily basis.

These considerations may well cause you to want to change your career and/or your relationships.

Survival from disease in particular makes you think about enjoying living in the moment more and so your values change. Old, unexamined values that anchor our identity in our daily lives and work, doing things out of habit that do not really matter to us, are thrown up in the air.

What values are important to you now? Do you want a role in the world that helps others more? Do you want more time with friends and family?

Some of my clients decided to leave a stressful job because they only realise how exhausted they had become when they crashed and burned out. Realising this helped them to reflect and see that life is too short to move around and around the mouse wheel.

You may want to make baby steps initially if you are cautious such as working less hours rather than a complete career change.

Disease makes you re-evaluate. Having contracted type 1 diabetes and hyperthyroidism in my late thirties I have personal experience of this. I understood that I was not immortal suddenly and thought what do I want to do now that has meaning for me?

A good question to help you to think about what you may want to do next is to explore when you are really happy. What are you passionate about? From your answers to this ideas about what you may want to do will come to you.

When is the right time?

Now.

If you have found this blog useful please leave a comment.

If you would like help with your career transition please get in touch via www.westofenglandcoachingandcounselling.co.ukselling.co.uk