Finally seeing a path ahead

Taking time out is just what I've needed. It's given me time to allow the emotions to flow and settle after the break of my relationship and to recover from the pressures of the past 9 months. It has also given me the space to explore what it is I want to do next in the sphere of career.

My first step was to book in 3 sessions with career coach Martha Cuffy (you'll find her in the ShiftStories and her article in Expert Advice). The first session was so powerful and illuminating that I was physically exhausted by it. The next session opened my eyes up further and the process continues - my final session is this Friday. My goal is to have chosen a career path to sink my teeth into by the end of our sessions together.

What I'm clear on so far is that what I want to do is retrain in the area of human development - it's a subject that I find endlessly fascinating and I want a career that provides me with the opportunity to always be learning, that I can develop into an expertise that continually evolves and into which I can incorporate my love of empowering people, guiding people, teaching and writing...and more.

The areas I'm looking at now are homeopathy and life coaching. I am putting dates into my diary to visit open days and arranging interviews with people in the different professions, while reading as much around the subjects as I can.

Retraining may take up to 4 years and so there is plenty of opportunity to engage in other work while I do this.

For a while I've had the idea of setting up a simple business making and selling ceramic jewellery. So tomorrow I'm meeting a ceramics artist to discuss how I might start with creating the designs I have in mind - I already have a list of people to help me create this business and am excited about embarking on this project.

In terms of making money while having fun, I have no fears. The past 9 months have taught me that there is plenty of work out there, that the laws of intention work a treat and so I'm confident that the right work will appear at the right time.

Even my parents, having had their concerns at the beginning of the risks I was taking, are now fully supportive of the way I'm going about my career.

I leapt out into the unknown in more ways than one 9 months ago - changing career, relationship and home all in one go. It has been a HUGE learning curve that utterly unravelled my life and at times it was totally overwhelming, and although it didn't all turn out as I had imagined the experience has been invaluable. I feel that I have finlly reached the top of the mountain and am looking down into a valley on the other side with a career stretching ahead of me that will be truly fulfilling, that will be a never ending journey offering me unforeseen opportunities to grow, contribute and enjoy life to the full.

So my careershifting journey has by no means come to an end but I feel like I'm finally graduating from 'exploring my options' to 'making the change'!