I’ve been a journaler since third grade when I received my first diary (replete with a padlock and key!) for my birthday. Journaling has salved many a wound of mine and helped me work through relationship challenges and make assessments accordingly.
But until last week, when I downloaded Mari L. McCarthy’s “Turn Your Passion into a Career in 7 Days,” it never dawned on me what a valuable tool journaling could also be for discerning one’s perfect employment fit.
I’ve been so fortunate in that area. Since college, I’ve been happy, satisfied, challenged, and independently, gainfully employed in every imaginable facet of the creative and performing arts. But after completing Days 1 and 2 of Mari’s course, I understood exactly why: it began with the family values instilled in me, progressed to my parents’ expectations based on my childhood strengths and preferences, and culminated with me following my instincts.
I know from friends and acquaintances, though, that I am the exception rather than the rule, and that’s why this course is such a valuable vehicle for finding fulfillment in one’s job. It asks the “tough questions” in Day 3's “I Could Have Been” section and makes the journaler dig deep–so important to growth and effectuating change.
This difficult exercise is then counter-balanced on Day 4 with the journaler’s observing herself from an outsider’s view to understand her strengths and delights.
Armed now with this crucial self-awareness, Day 5 provides the opportunity to imagine a more satisfying employment situation by listing–in just 20 minutes’ time–all enticing career paths and then, when the deadline’s up, examining what resonates most. From there, Mari guides the journaler through the tweaking process toward a ‘doable’ goal.
Day 6 takes on the task of facing one’s fears and obstacles because SO many times it’s this facet of the journey where dreams can easily be quashed. Mari rudders through it so well, though, that it makes one’s Little Voice whisper, “OMG. I really feel like I CAN do this!”
And finally, on the seventh day, the journaler is armed with the understanding and skills necessary to make the vision a reality. By taking small, daily steps, the achievement has not felt overwhelming, but, rather, so totally possible.
I would love to see this course as a first-semester requirement of every high school Senior’s curriculum. Then I would like to see it repeated first semester of everyone’s Senior year in college to remind students why knowing their strengths–and how they acquired them–affects this crucial area of their lives forever.
From now on, this course will be a holiday gift I bestow upon every high school and college Senior I love, and there is not a doubt in my mind that it will help them immensely.
I am so glad I had the opportunity to explore this valuable journaling course!
Author bio:
Rachelle teaches private voice, flute, and piano lessons to seventy-four students each week in their homes. It’s a gig she’s loved for the past twenty-eight years and has no plans to retire.
From 1987 - 99, she was a dance teacher and choreographer for regional theater in Rochester, NY, and, prior to that, she was an opera singer in NYC.
Rachelle lives in East Rochester, NY, with her husband, Bobby, and Flurry, their cat.
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