Great read, Daryll. I'm still shocked by the irrelevance I feel in the world without a corporate role and identity. But I can't say that people were all that interested in hearing about my job anyway, so where does this feeling come from? Anyone who truly understands what work travel is like would never be impressed by it, so surely this corporate identity must be an illusion after all.
I can't say I would ever answer yes to the question of going back to a big job and I wonder if that will ever change - looking forward to hearing your thoughts about the middle ground.
Re: Irrelevance, I would spend some quiet time with two ideas. One, the notion that a job is such a huge/defining part of one's identity is so pervasive/expected (in the western world anyway) that there can just be a feeling of "wrongness" that comes from stepping outside of that idea. What's someone's first question after your name? "So, what do you do?" Stepping to the side of that societal expectation can just feel uncomfortable, even if there isn't any actual basis in that discomfort.
Two, sometimes we unconsciously live with powerful, psychological attachments to the idea of work that were drilled into us during formative years (often unintentionally -- I don't mean that it was malicious or that someone did something wrong) that continue to affect us well into adulthood. We learn these supposed "universe axioms" like, "A prestigious job equals _____" that we can just take for granted and never think about questioning for decades. What if it *doesn't* equal that thing that I thought it did since I was 7 years old? I have a section later in the series on doing deep work to figure these things out, although I am more of a beneficiary of great therapists and coaches rather than a qualified educator on the topic :)
I really like the sailboat analogy
Great read, Daryll. I'm still shocked by the irrelevance I feel in the world without a corporate role and identity. But I can't say that people were all that interested in hearing about my job anyway, so where does this feeling come from? Anyone who truly understands what work travel is like would never be impressed by it, so surely this corporate identity must be an illusion after all.
I can't say I would ever answer yes to the question of going back to a big job and I wonder if that will ever change - looking forward to hearing your thoughts about the middle ground.
Lots more to come!
Re: Irrelevance, I would spend some quiet time with two ideas. One, the notion that a job is such a huge/defining part of one's identity is so pervasive/expected (in the western world anyway) that there can just be a feeling of "wrongness" that comes from stepping outside of that idea. What's someone's first question after your name? "So, what do you do?" Stepping to the side of that societal expectation can just feel uncomfortable, even if there isn't any actual basis in that discomfort.
Two, sometimes we unconsciously live with powerful, psychological attachments to the idea of work that were drilled into us during formative years (often unintentionally -- I don't mean that it was malicious or that someone did something wrong) that continue to affect us well into adulthood. We learn these supposed "universe axioms" like, "A prestigious job equals _____" that we can just take for granted and never think about questioning for decades. What if it *doesn't* equal that thing that I thought it did since I was 7 years old? I have a section later in the series on doing deep work to figure these things out, although I am more of a beneficiary of great therapists and coaches rather than a qualified educator on the topic :)