Your life resume and your past experiences, interests, skills, and hobbies are the roadmap to your life story and your “someday” dream.
Let’s gear up for a road trip through your life story, where your work resume and your “life resume” are your map and compass, guiding you to your dream destination. Imagine your work resume is the route you’ve taken, filled with professional pit stops, career twists and turns, and perhaps a few detours. You have logged more than a few miles!
But what about your life resume? It’s the scenic route, the off-the-beaten-path adventures that have shaped who you are and where you want to go. Look over your life resume and you will see you have been on a path to your purpose all along.
The Journey So Far: Work Resume vs. Life Resume
Your work resume is like the main roads on a map, showing a clear path of your professional journey. It lists the jobs you’ve held, the skills you’ve acquired, and the accomplishments you’ve achieved. It’s straightforward, linear, and goal-oriented. But it’s only part of the story.
How you show up on paper gives a glimpse of what is important to you behind the scenes.
Your life resume—it’s the winding roads, the hidden trails, and the scenic overlooks of your journey. This resume includes your hobbies, interests, volunteer work, personal achievements, family roles and the lessons learned along the way. It’s a colorful, multifaceted picture that showcases the richness of your character and the depth of your experiences.
It helps you clarify what really matters to you. It’s an everchanging, always growing, documentation of your meaningful life.
You Start Not Knowing Where You Are Going Except Forward
The beginning of anything holds endless possibilities and opportunities.
You make a wish as you blow out your birthday candles and assign meaning to a shooting star. You throw pennies in a wishing well confident that your “someday” dream is unfolding just up ahead.
Somewhere along the way, we slow our pace and that dream seems to be moving farther away rather than getting any closer. We get discouraged when it seems like there is so far to go and we are in low gear, weighed down by life demands.
Soon, you are in mid-life and feeling like you are running out of time to ever reach that “someday” you have been dreaming about for so long. You find yourself back at the wishing well tossing in pennies but not taking any action. Instead of a wish, each penny becomes an excuse for quitting.
Let’s use your life resume to give you the motivation to move forward with anticipation and excitement. By pausing to look back, you can see how far you have come.
Why Your Life Resume Matters
As you navigate the mid-life journey, your life resume becomes increasingly important. It holds clues to your passions, values, and the dreams you’ve developed along the way, waiting for the right moment to merge them into your future plan.
Here are a few reasons why your life resume is your secret navigational tool:
- Self-Discovery: Your life resume helps you understand who you are beyond your job title. It highlights your passions, strengths, and the unique blend of experiences that make you, you.
- Direction: It can point you toward your next adventure. By reflecting on what you’ve loved doing in the past, you can identify what brings you joy and fulfillment.
- Adaptability: Life resumes show how you’ve grown, adapted, and learned from life’s detours. This resilience is invaluable, especially when considering a career change or new life chapter.
Assessing Your Map: Finding What’s Important
Break down your life resume into passions, achievements, skills, and lessons you’ve learned.
What do you want to keep doing, and what do you want to stop doing?
- Highlight Your Passions: Look for patterns in your hobbies and interests. What activities make you lose track of time?
- Acknowledge Your Achievements: Identify moments of personal triumph, regardless of their size. These achievements are your road signs that you’re capable of great things.
- Value Your Skills: Beyond job-related skills, consider life skills—communication, empathy, problem-solving—that you’ve honed over the years. These are your vehicles ready to take you anywhere.
- Reflect on Lessons Learned: Think about the challenges you’ve overcome. The resilience and wisdom gained are your fuel, powering you forward. You have earned the right to speak up about what you want and go for it.
- Wisdom obtained is not reflected in the abbreviated letters behind your name in your signature.
Setting Your GPS: Turning Dreams into Destinations
Now that you have looked back, and seen how far you have come, continue to navigate toward your “someday” dream. Visualize where you want to be. Be as specific as possible.
How would you answer the question, “Where do I want to be a year from now?” Did you say the same thing last year? Do you want to be saying the same thing at this time next year?
Plan your route, just like planning a road trip. Break down your journey into achievable milestones. What steps do you need to take to reach your destination?
Pack your suitcase and decide what skills, experiences, and personal qualities you’ll bring along. Equally important, determine what you need to leave behind.
Embrace detours and be open to unexpected opportunities and changes in direction. Sometimes, the most memorable adventures are found off the planned route. Expect the unexpected!
Most of all, enjoy the ride. Remember, the journey is as important as the destination. Celebrate your progress, enjoy the landscapes, and cherish the companionship and encouragement of friends along the way.
Conclusion: Your Work Resume is a Small Piece of Your Life Resume
They both reflect where you’ve been and illuminate the path to where you want to go. Remember, it’s never too late to recalibrate your GPS and head toward your dream destination. Whether you’re aiming for a career change or a more purposeful and meaningful life, your past experiences, skills, and passions are the compass that will guide you there.
Need more ideas to get started? Your Adventure of Rediscovery and Open Possibilities
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