Your Former Career: Maybe You Will Never Get Over It

 So many cards in the tarot symbolize transition. Just one of them is the death card. It signals: A big change is coming. And come it usually does. More and more in these volatile times it's coming in the form of a career change.  Right now, 52% are considering a career change and 44% have already set that in play.

In professional life, where identities are so rooted in capitalist America, that shift from a long-term career to whatever can be almost too much to process. So we - yes, I am among them - tend to hang on to parts of what had been. We default into conversations about that kind of work. We continue to showcase our expertise. We track what our former competitors are doing. We keep in touch with the old crowd.

The New York Times joins myriad other media outlets in confirming how difficult it is to let go.

Three years ago, after four decades in communications and doing tarot readings on the side (in the closet), I decided to let the former go and focus full time on the latter (along with intuitive coaching). In terms of financial success things went quite well. 

Yet, I hung on. There were two communications accounts I continued to service. Then in 2024 there was one. I had less and less time for that. The revenue was on the small side. 

Only this week I officially notified that organization that, because of the time squeeze, I could no longer be available. Very cordial, on both sides.

Initially I felt relief. Then, no more of all that. 

I couldn't sleep. My blood pressure surged. Although my new enterprises are thriving I experienced dread of a fall-off in business. 

When will this processing of the real end of one career be complete? As a tarot reader reading my own cards I "see" that depends on how well I can manage the risk of a single professional identity which is relatively new. However, there may be no absolute end.

The Fool card, which is about assessing risk, tells me that. In totally letting go of communications I gave up the hedge. 

We learn the most from our clients. It's from clients who also have hung on to vestiges of a fading career that I had reinforced that long half life of work-well-done during an earlier career. The flashbacks are a mixture of pride - and fear of the present/future. 

Among the effective strategies for making that memory less vivid is for us to phase out of those networks associated with who we used to be professionally. In brutal pragmatic terms, hey, we don't "need" them any more. Maintaining the connection drains energy which we should infuse in building new networks. 

However, it could be unrealistic to expect we can empty 100% of ourselves of what had been such a source of satisfaction and infuse a totally new identity. It could be that it is impossible to exit the past. After all, the past is part of us. 

Life is hard. Business is even more difficult these days. Get answers – and relief. Jane Genova is a results-driven intuitive coach, tarot reader and content-creator related to careers. Complimentary consultation (please text/phone 203-468-8579 or email janegenova374@gmail.com)