I’ve been thinking a lot lately about passion and career, passion or career, passion vs career, and every other way you can frame it. It’s not just a new thought. It’s been one that has been going through my mind for at least ten years. Not as a consistent, day to day reflection. Rather, it comes and gos through different periods.
I fell in to my career. Not that there is anything wrong with that. It was a natural conclusion in many respects given my interests at the time and what I was enjoying doing in my current job. To level up that aspect, moving in to Human Resources was natural. I was also the product of luck. A HR position became available in the company I was with right when my studies finished, and when I was closing out some work in my current position. As luck would have it, the timing was prime to move across.
As I got closer to my ten year anniversary, I started to think about what comes next. Being with the same company (even though you are enjoying your job), and it still being your first job in many ways with a string or promotions, it was only natural that is this is? was a question I began to return to again and again. Perhaps it lead me to the rabbit hole of travel vlogs. Perhaps not. I actively used my annual leave to travel, so perhaps it was a combination of many things that made me ponder a career break to backpack around the world for one year.
With these career breaks, I have also been involved in different industries This really changed my thinking of passion and career. I love hiking and climbing, and I am so grateful I was able to do it as a job for a while. It was my passion. Yet I could not make it my career. The length of time I was away, the pay, the break between. It wasn’t sustainable. In this case, my passion could not be my career and at the same time pay for the lifestyle I wanted.
I wouldn’t take any of it back. Luckily, I had savings I could draw upon, so whilst I was in that career, it was incredibly rewarding. I’m glad I did it. Looking forward though, it was clear to me that in order to have what I want, I can’t do this full time, or all the time.
On one of my returns back to Brisbane, I returned to the HR industry, and as opportunity (and luck) would have it, there was a vacancy for me to move into the training space, which was something new. Whilst I had experience with designing and running workshops, they were a small part of my previous roles. This would be the entire focus. 100% training. So I jumped at it to try something different.
The first few months were a blur and went by very fast. It was a time of understanding the company, the needs and wants of clients and stakeholders, and to focus my mind on just training. There were many moments where I thought to myself, you have no idea what you are doing. You are a generalist in HR. What are you doing?
I continued, and each day got a little bit better, and used my total experiences in life to come up with some unique training solutions. Slowly, the inner voice reduced in frequency. And, as I gained more mastery, the enjoyment went up too. Confidence and competence, it seems, also helps with enjoying what you do.
After a year and a half in the role, I left, pursuing another career break to travel, and to return (on a temporary part time basis) to outdoor education. It was a balance that worked well and was something I was eager to really make a go of. Full time work in HR, then take some time off and travel and do outdoor education. Return to HR. Repeat.
It worked well, and there were enjoyable years. My experiences, perspectives, knowledge, wisdom, everything, went up. Then it was back to Brisbane, and then COVID-19 arrived.
That was the end of travel and outdoor education. It was time to end that book, and begin another. Whilst many wonderful chapters were written, and I’ll look back with fondness, and it was not the end of that book that I wanted, the timing, in a way, was also right for me.
I dedicated myself back into the HR career and also my time in Brisbane with family and friends. It was a smooth reentry this time (I did have to deal with reentry the first time coming back), and helped affirm to me that it was time for a new book. Not brand new. We aren’t starting from scratch. Rather, the next in a series. Same characters, with their learnings and abilities, levelled up, ready to tackle the next challenge.
One again I was lucky with circumstances. A lot of HR generalist jobs were hiring, so I landed a job fairly quickly. A six month contract. I also enrolled back into university for postgraduate study and completed two courses at that time. Putting systems and processes worked well to keep my time focused, as it was a change from the more leisurely, mostly do what you want when you want pace of travel.
A few weeks in to my new job, and I wasn’t enjoying it. Half way through, I did not like it. I did decide, however, given it was only six months. to stick it out and do right by the company so they had certainty around their own workforce planning. I was, however, upfront at the three month mark that I was not interested in extending. I wouldn’t advise that of everything, as of course circumstances are different. For me, I just wanted to carry out the commitment I had made and not leave anyone in the lurch at that point in time. Plus, I was also in a position where there were many jobs going that I could apply for. Which brought me back to a central question, do I find a job or company this time around I am passionate about?
That’s how I ended up in Higher Education for the past few years. Whilst the industry has it’s challenges, it is still enjoyable work in an environment that I like. It, at the same time, may also be a fact that my career capital also increased at the same time – so I would thrive in any environment.
My hobbies also evolved these past few years. I grew more interested in podcasts, long form discussions, and in YouTube interviews. I expanded my reading outside of just fantasy to non fiction works. It lead to many different experiments, and incremental steps.
I started a YouTube channel with a friend to document our climbing adventures. We did a few podcasts. I then did a few solo podcasts around life quests. I blogged on and off around different topics. I got comfortable again with deliberately practicing new skills, and getting used to the feeling of being mentally stretched in tasks. Little by little, the consistent habits formed. Now, I’m ready to flex again in these spaces and continue my deliberate practice and learning.
So there is lots more coming in this space. More blogging. More consulting. More podcasting.
Let’s roll.