A big part of the journey to finding and creating a career that energizes and inspires you is to align more closely with who you truly are. This process of aligning with your true nature takes a lot of courage. May my own recent experience of aligning more closely with my truth inspire you to take the next step on your journey to embracing the true YOU.
Grow Your Awareness
Like with most important shifts and choices, the first step towards aligning more closely with who you truly are, is to become aware of how you currently compromise your authenticity. This building of awareness is often a gradual process.
For example, when I got my first professional portraits done, the photographer insisted that I wear makeup for the photoshoot. Even though the portraits turned out great, they didn’t represent the true me, as I never wear makeup. A few years ago, in the process of a major revamp of my website, I got new portraits taken without makeup. It took me quite a while to find a photographer who was willing to do a photoshoot without makeup. It was well worth it! I now feel aligned with my photos and people recognize me when they meet me.
Notice Your Insights
Small, seemingly insignificant insights come together over time to help you see the bigger picture of your inner truth. For me this gradual illumination process continues to unfold in wonderous ways.
My most recent steps on this journey have been about finding a more authentic alignment in the context of social media. Last summer, my social media manager aligned more closely with her deeper passion for design and gave her notice. This unexpected change made me wonder how I wanted to continue with social media engagement. Because I didn’t have an immediate answer, I decided to surrender to the unknown and took a break from social media.
Give Yourself Space
Giving myself space and time for this important decision really helped me grow my awareness about the elements of social media that didn’t feel aligned for me. I’ve now made the decision to disengage from two social media platforms. It took a lot of courage and I’ll share more about my decision-making process in a moment.
Before you continue reading, notice how you currently compromise your authentic nature. What activities in your current life and work drain you? Take some quality time to journal these questions. You may not yet know how to align more closely with your inner truth and it takes a lot of courage to be with the unknown. However, recognizing what’s not working for you is a very important first step.
Release Outdated Beliefs
When I was grappling with my recent social media decision, I noticed a fear-based belief that was keeping me stuck: “Social media is a necessary tool for business success.” Over dinner I shared my growing awareness of this limiting belief with my husband.
Listening to me, he was reminded of our bold decision five years ago to live a car-free lifestyle. In the beginning of our car-free lifestyle experience, my husband had to face his old beliefs about the status that owning a car represents. That evening, he said to me: “Many people think that you can’t live happily without a car. Yet we are very happy with our car-free lifestyle. Many people think that you can’t run a successful business without social media. But maybe that’s not true for you either?” Because I am already proud of our car-free lifestyle, I was beginning to feel the courage to let go of my limiting belief around social media.
Before you read on, take a moment to investigate what kinds of old beliefs are keeping you out of alignment. Limiting beliefs are usually based on fear and scarcity. My limiting belief around social media was based on the fear of losing my business, the work that energizes and inspires me. No wonder I held on so tightly and it took me so long to realize that it was just a belief, rather than “the truth.” It’s worth spending some time with your limiting beliefs. Uncover the fears that fuel them and step into your deeper truth with courage.
Listen to Your Body
After our inspiring, eye-opening dinner conversation, I took my decision-making challenge for a walk. It often helps me to connect more fully with the wisdom of my body. When I arrived at the beach, I let myself imagine that I had already disengaged from the two platforms. As I walked the beach from this perspective for a while, I felt a huge weight lift off my shoulders. As I imagined the simplicity of my business moving forward in this new way, it felt spacious and free. I felt a peace and a sense of calm as I continued to walk with this scenario.
My body had just given me the final clarity I needed to follow through with my decision.
Before you read on, I invite you to take a courageous shift you currently imagine for a walk. Try walking with your scenario for a while and track the sensations in your body. What is your body telling you?
Trust that YOU are Needed
An enormous amount of space opened for me, as I took this step towards further alignment with my inner truth. My decision empowers me to engage even more fully and deeply in ways that feel true for me. This clarity helps me access a deeper trust that people will continue to find me and that my career clarity coaching business will continue to thrive.
Your path forward may seem unconventional and that can be scary. The more you trust that your unique gifts are needed, the more your courage to be YOU will grow.
Receive Support on Your Courageous Journey
You don’t have to travel alone on your courageous journey. Most of my career coaching clients express a longing for community support on their journey to career clarity. That’s why I created Career Clarity Circle, an engaging virtual circle that naturally builds a sense of community support among people who are creating and sustaining energizing careers.
Kiran Dhingra’s testimonial gives you a sense for what it’s like to be part of this community: “I am so glad that I said ‘Yes’ to joining Julia’s career clarity circle. She has created a safe and inclusive space for us to explore our dreams and visions for the future and look at the places where we hold ourselves back.
I have so appreciated being a part of a circle with others who have shared so courageously and in turn, inspired my own ability to be honest and real. Julia is warm, has tremendous depth and wisdom and has been my own personal cheerleader as I made some profound changes over this past year.
I am now living in a new community and have taken a new direction in my career that feels much more aligned with my personal values. If you are in a place in your life where you feel ‘out of sync’ with your career, I highly recommend taking this journey with Julia.”
A new Career Clarity Circle is forming now! To join Career Clarity Circle, simply send me a message “YES to Career Clarity Circle” via the contact form on my website.
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