Self reflection and your career identity

Christine Rogers
Nov 1 · 3 min read

Reflection №1 — The Homebody

You want to work out what might be right for you in the future — Yes? Well self reflection is for you.

Reflection is the act of exploring thoughts, feelings and action with the goal of finding meaning. To reflect is to learn. We can use reflection in several ways: to understand ourselves; to facilitate learning from experience, develop critical thinking; challenge assumptions and received wisdom and to help us to make decisions.

WE LIKE A DEFINITION

“Reflection in the context of learning is a generic term for those intellectual and affective activities in which individuals engage to explore their experiences in order to lead to new understandings and appreciations……Reflection turns experience into learning.” (Boud & Walker 1985).

Andre Neel: Unsplash

Exploring is a useful word when learning about what reflection involves because it strongly implies effort, time and some planning. Exploring is something we choose to do and it often involves the notion of a ‘journey’, or an actual journey. Personal reflection is part of a journey of self discovery.

Many possibilities but one plain truth

I don’t think identity exploration ever comes to an end. I have explored, imagined and tried to live several ‘career identities’ throughout my life (fashion journalism, fashion retail, historian, consumer scientist…..psychologist). Erik Eriksens’s stage theory proposed that the identity crisis is solved by early adulthood, through exploration in adolescence. Well, I am now in my 50s and I still wonder what I might do and who I might be in the next stage of my career. But there is one thing that I have absolutely figured out and that is I am almost certainly not going to leave the north west of England, maybe ever.

I know, through exploring my thoughts and feelings about moving away to different cities or countries, that it is something I feel that I should do (or should have done) and not what I want to do. I am surrounded by colleagues who have lived and worked often all over the world, I feel a bit boring and pedestrian by comparison. To really engage optimally in research also involves a lot of travel to network and learn from international colleagues, but I really don’t travel well. I am unhappy alone, away from my family. When I was younger I did push myself to travel to exotic places and go to international conferences and I had some valued experiences. I listen to my instincts, rather than the voice that tells me it is what successful people do — I don’t want to do it again. So, I stay at home.

The word ‘should’ with cross through it
The word ‘should’ with cross through it

I have accepted that some careers and some aspects of my chosen career are impossible with my imposed geographical limitations. I am a homebody, but that only defines where I will work, but not what I can do or be.

Christine Rogers

Written by

A psychologist: I have lectured in Psychology for 25 years. My blogs are about personal reflection for the purposes of supporting career identity development.

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