Although I have yet to meet anyone who claims to like looking for a new job, I think that it’s time we changed the conversation around some of the benefits that your job search can bring. For one thing I have found that it is definitely a time of deep inner growth, something in us has usually shifted in terms of how we feel about our current position and our career.

This can be a time of heavy research and going within to figure out our interests, passions, and goals. I think that we should be really taking this time to look at what we want to achieve within our lives and our careers. Figure out if our current career track is satisfying and in line with the future we say we want.

I personally have had to do this several times in my life. It has always been a little exciting and a little scary. I have had a host of different fears, from being afraid of looking like a quitter, to feeling like I had no direction in terms of what I wanted my next steps to be, and the biggest fear of all was not feeling good enough.

I had to use this time to do a lot of exploration and inner work; I looked at different schools, training programs and career options. I did volunteer work and took courses on spiritual growth, I really had to sit down and figure out what my interests and strengths. I also had to learn how to let go of what other people thought about my career decisions.

So although the job search for many of us can be a scary and frustrating time, it is also a time to take steps towards learning about who we are and what we want. As someone who has made several career transitions, I have been able to look back at these periods with a sense of accomplishment for all the strides I made and lessons I learned.