Linda’s Story: I Found the Confidence I Had in My 30s
The Before
I’m 57 years old, and for the last 5 years or so I have gotten to a place where I felt like I didn’t know what to do with my career path. I’ve always been career-driven and goal-oriented.
I decided to be a single mother early on. All moms know what that’s like: picking a career for survival mode to put food on the table rather than something you genuinely enjoy.
Talking to certain people who speak about their careers with passion made me realize I never had that feeling. I’ve had really good moments but never that spark.
After building a support system for my family, I decided to find that last hoorah of finding some direction and asked myself “What should I be doing?”. I started exploring career coaches through different colleagues never really finding the correct fit but I landed on Cardy Career Coaching and I’m glad I did.
The Process
My coach was great about listening, letting me vent, and then eventually grabbing parts of our conversations to steer me in the right direction. Career coaching allowed me to delve into my story and reflect.
I kept struggling that I couldn’t find that one passion. However, through our conversations and exercises, we were able to conclude that I was a “Renaissance Person” (i.e. someone with multiple areas of interest). She showed me that life is full of highs and lows and encouraged me to find joy in being creative and pursuing old hobbies. With time I was able to find things I enjoy doing in my industry and where I can focus and grow in those areas.
I was getting to a point where I dreaded Mondays in my career but through examples of other people going through something similar and several exercises, I was eventually able to ask myself, “What would make it good enough for me to stay?” When that answer was nothing, that’s when I knew change was inevitable.
At this stage in my life, I was done rolling up my sleeves and putting extra work and effort into a broken infrastructure and environment. I was ready to have fun and enjoy my day-to-day work life, routine, and flex my challenge muscles.
There’s always a fear amongst women my age, are we aging out? That was immediately dug into and squashed. Coaching helped me realize what value I still have to offer vs younger people with less career and life experience.
The Results
Learning to connect with other people my age and having these conversations opened up a whole new world for me.
With advice from my coach, I was able to realize through being myself and being honest, I can showcase my skills and expertise to find the perfect fit for a career.
And that I did! I was able to obtain a position in my field that ticks off all of the boxes. With direct clarity of what I wanted out of my career, I found people and an environment that is established but can still positively challenge me.
I ended up being able to set an example for my kids and family and show them the importance of finding joy and passion in your everyday career.
Advice and Why You Should Get a Career Coach
It helped with self-analysis and was very therapeutic in taking the age issue off the table. This experience showed me that there are still so many years to work, and there’s still a lot of value to be had. We all have so much more to offer.
Cardy Career Coaching made me feel like I can showcase my value and what I can offer vs proving myself all over again and for that, I’m full of gratitude.
Would You Like to Regain Your Confidence?
