Our lives have a natural ebb and flow that looks less like formulaic stages as they do natural seasons. Don’t be limited by thinking in a four-season paradigm. We experience many in our lifetime! Thinking in a seasonal framework reminds us that changes in life are natural. We may not choose or anticipate every change, but change is as natural as when Spring turns to Summer.
Through most of 2019 I have been in-between jobs: aka - unemployed. Honestly it took me a while to think of this time as a season. In the beginning it felt more like a hard stop: no energy, no life. With a lot of intention and hard work, the hard stop moved into a season of self-reflection and that has turned into a season of interviewing and imagining what is next.
If I had not done the work of self-reflection and healing, I would not be able to answer the tough questions that have been asked in interviews. I was delighted when one of my favorite “famous” questions was asked of me. It is the Krista Tippett question from the beginning of all her interviews: “Talk about the spiritual background of your childhood.”
In just a few seconds I had to gather my thoughts. I wanted to be vulnerable and share some of my personal childhood experiences. I did not want to go down the rabbit hole of “navel gazing” and bore everyone in the room. I wanted to give them a sense of me; then, now and who I hope to be.
It takes a lot of self-awareness to do that well in the moment and in front of eight strangers who may or many not hire you! That self-awareness could only come through embracing my seasonal work of self-reflection and sacred imagination.
Your tough and vulnerable question may be different. Your personal seasonal work may be different than mine. We know the more self-aware one is, the better we can articulate and show the world who we really are and dream to be.
I have heard writers say that everyone has a book inside of them. I am not sure if that is true but maybe when I am done with this season, this could be my book. For right now…I have work to do.
Blessings on your seasonal work!
~ Pam
Through most of 2019 I have been in-between jobs: aka - unemployed. Honestly it took me a while to think of this time as a season. In the beginning it felt more like a hard stop: no energy, no life. With a lot of intention and hard work, the hard stop moved into a season of self-reflection and that has turned into a season of interviewing and imagining what is next.
If I had not done the work of self-reflection and healing, I would not be able to answer the tough questions that have been asked in interviews. I was delighted when one of my favorite “famous” questions was asked of me. It is the Krista Tippett question from the beginning of all her interviews: “Talk about the spiritual background of your childhood.”
In just a few seconds I had to gather my thoughts. I wanted to be vulnerable and share some of my personal childhood experiences. I did not want to go down the rabbit hole of “navel gazing” and bore everyone in the room. I wanted to give them a sense of me; then, now and who I hope to be.
It takes a lot of self-awareness to do that well in the moment and in front of eight strangers who may or many not hire you! That self-awareness could only come through embracing my seasonal work of self-reflection and sacred imagination.
Your tough and vulnerable question may be different. Your personal seasonal work may be different than mine. We know the more self-aware one is, the better we can articulate and show the world who we really are and dream to be.
I have heard writers say that everyone has a book inside of them. I am not sure if that is true but maybe when I am done with this season, this could be my book. For right now…I have work to do.
Blessings on your seasonal work!
~ Pam
