Who’s afraid of change?
In many ways, change is a just natural and inevitable part of being alive. We all get older after all, and experience various physical, emotional and intellectual changes throughout our lifetimes that impact our place in the world and how we are perceived by others.
Until recent generations, it was generally the ‘norm’ that most people’s lives would remain very similar from beginning to end: that you would live close to the town you were born in, that you’d do a ‘job for life’, that you’d be married to one partner for several decades, and that you’d pass on the same values to the future generation as those which you’d inherited from the previous. This consistency brought stability, safety and security, and coloured change as something difficult or ‘unnatural’.
These days, however, we’re living at a time when major change – technological, environmental, political, and social – is happening at an unprecedented and accelerated pace, and it’s more important than ever to respond to change effectively in both our personal and professional lives. But that doesn’t make change any less scary, and it’s a hardwired human response to feel trepidation about the unknown.
Changing careers
When it comes to our careers, it can be very tempting to ‘stay in our lane’. Not only do we define much of our identity through our occupation, but we might have also paid a lot of money in training or qualifications to do a particular job role, or invested time and energy in growing valuable networks in our industry or carefully building our reputation. Giving that up and embarking on something new takes bravery, confidence and – often – a willingness to step into the unknown and accept risk.
The exponential growth of the creative industries in the UK in recent decades has opened up new opportunities and necessitated a larger workforce, in turn attracting people from other professional backgrounds to the sector. One such example is Yassmine Najime.
Yassmine trained and practiced as a criminal defence lawyer before hearing creativity calling and pivoting into a role as a Visual Development Producer in the screen sector. Yasmine joined our session to tell us about this journey and what it taught her about thriving through change.
Here are our top takeaways from the discussion:
1. Forget about straight lines
We tend to visualise our career trajectories as linear, assuming that we’ll gradually ascend from point ‘A’ to point ‘B’ to point ‘C’ and so forth in a structured, regular manner. In her presentation, Yassmine encouraged us to move away from this regimented way of thinking, and used the analogy of a river’s course to think about how we move towards our career goals. Rivers can be fast flowing or smooth, narrow or wide. They also travel through different environments and types of terrain, adapting to forge their own path and responding to stimulus. Rivers also provide plenty of opportunities to stop, relax and take in the view en route to a destination. By accepting that our professional journeys will have a similar ‘ebb and flow’ we become more open to change, more alert to new opportunities and kinder to ourselves in allowing space and time to achieve our goals.
2. You are not what you do for a living
There’s a socially ingrained tendency for us to describe ourselves in terms of our profession. For example, when we meet someone new one of the first pieces of information we exchange tends to be what ‘job’ we do. However, we are all so much more than our job title. Yassmine told us that when she first moved into the creative sector from her legal background, people were shocked that she’d made such a drastic professional change, but that to her it didn’t feel so dramatic because the creative parts of her identity had always been integral to how she saw herself. Changing sectors didn’t mean she was changing who she was as a person, simply that she was choosing to use a different set of her skills to earn money. When it comes to making a professional change, Yassmine encouraged us to think more holistically about the diverse skills, expertise and motivations we all have – all of the things that make us ‘us’ – and consider how we could use these in a professional context and avoid being pigeon-holed.
3. Understand your motivations
Sometimes, in the case of redundancy or burn-out, we might be pushed into making a change to what we do for a living. Other times this might be a conscious lifestyle decision; for example to create a more flexible schedule, or work around existing commitments. Or we might simply want to follow our passions and dedicate ourselves to doing something that truly brings us joy. Whatever it is for you, Yassmine advised us to carefully consider the ‘push and pull’ factors at play in our pursuit of change, as this will impact on the type of actions we need to take, and how much time we have to implement our change.
4. Dip a toe in the water
Finally, Yassmine reminded us that change doesn’t have to be drastic. If you’re considering making a big change professionally, it can help to take baby steps first. This can mean attending networking events in the sector you which to work in to build connections and stay connected to new opportunities, picking up some freelance work alongside your current commitments to start building your skillset or studying for additional qualifications on a part-time basis. That way, when the right opportunity does come along, you’ll be primed to take advantage of it.
What we do for a living is a huge part of our lives. It’s what we spend to bulk of our waking hours doing, so it’s important that it make us feel fulfilled and supports our wellbeing. Changing how we work, and what we work on, isn’t just about earning more money or getting a fancy new title. It’s about thinking how we want to feel at the end of the day, and the satisfaction of our work aligning holistically with our values and motivations.
Join us at our next Creative Cuppa
If you’ve been inspired to make a change, don’t forget that you can stay up to date with the latest creative sector opportunities by checking out the Creative Cardiff jobs listings.
Creative Cuppas are also a great way to make connections. We’d love to see you at our next, on Thursday 4 May at Norwegian Church. Find out more and book your place.
Creative Cuppas are informal opportunities for Cardiff’s freelance and creative workforce to come together for connection, collaboration and caffeine. They are designed to facilitate sharing and reflection, and support personal and professional network building for individuals.
