You’re not really working right now. You’re experiencing a downtime in your career. What do you do? Do you enjoy the break? Or do you do something with this time? AND how are you feeling about having a downtime in the first place?
I have experienced professional downtimes off and on throughout my career and they were all for different reasons. (Read them here.) When I look back at the list of reasons for my downtimes it’s clear to me that they all revolve around major moments in my life and can be organized in two categories… downtimes that I CHOSE to take and downtimes that I DID NOT CHOOSE to take. When I think back to the times when I made the decision to not work I was generally in control of my life and feeling overall happy because things were good. When I didn’t have that option to choose to not work I was experiencing some kind of life situation where adult decisions had to be made. As a result, when I think back to the professional downtime itself I feel either positive or negative emotions about it.
What I’m trying to say is: Having a professional downtime affected me emotionally.
I think that’s important to keep in mind. Why? Well, because then you are in the thick of a Debbie Downer not-in-your-control downtime situation you might make some unwise decisions.
Here’s what happened to me: I made a big move with my husband from one state to another and didn’t have a job. And didn’t know how to make a job for myself. And was really down on myself because a lot of my personal identity at the time centered around working. I was miserable. So I went to a local college to check out becoming an OTA. I was thinking “This is just too hard so I’m going to go into another field where people always seem to be working and just live with it”. I ended up not following through because I woke up. I realized that the field of music therapy needs me in it and I need to be in the field of music therapy.
The WHOLE reason why I even went down this road in the first place was because I was in a professional downtime, experiencing emotions and wasn’t even aware of them. Since I wasn’t aware of them I couldn’t deal with them. And since I wasn’t dealing with them I was miserable. And that’s just stupid because I’m too cool to be miserable.
Promise me that if you are in a professional downtime you will take some time to process that fact. Record yourself improvising your downtime experience, journal it out, find a peer to speak to… something! Even if it’s a downtime for an in control reason. (Like, maybe you have less clients in the summertime.) It matters.
There are TONS of ways to stay in the loop during your downtime. Ways to do it that don’t have to take a lot of your time either. I’ll share a big resource list with you next week.
In the meantime…
How has a professional downtime affected you? Please share by leaving a comment here or on my facebook page.
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That’s a true story. I promise I’ll get him a new one when he’s old enough to enjoy it… I just couldn’t live with that whacked out one in the house.
