The Ongoing Personal Need for Relevance...

Rejoice in Transition - Sierra Nevada

An Unspoken but Common Impediment to Ending Your Career.

The anticipation and the actual experience of the end of one’s career is a major life Transition. It will present you with additional, unfamiliar challenges unrelated to financial concerns. There are a myriad of matters and problems that will require your attention. In the past, the challenge was magnified by the lack of means to learn and prepare for your end of career in a deliberate, comprehensive manner.

Some of the problems are obvious to most of us, others are not. Yet, they are profound, often unspoken and commonly experienced.

Reasons I Frequently Encounter

I serve as a professional consultant and coach to medical professional and other highly accomplished individuals concerning their end of career Transition. I know there are obstacles that prevent individuals from exercising the opportunity to end their career and Transition to the next phase of their lives. These are some of the less evident, yet important reasons:

- Not knowing how to go about the process of Transition and fulfill a myriad of responsibilities and obligations.

- Not being able to clearly distinguish Who you are as an individual vs. What your profession or occupation has been…your sense of identity.

- Not having identified What you will do in the future, something you find fulfilling.

- Not having the confidence that after the end of your career you will continue to feel relevant.

It is very human to experience and feel the anxiety that arises from these very real preoccupations. Nevertheless, it is in your best interest to deal with them successfully. This is accomplished through a process of self-reflection as your experience your Transition.

It is important to recognize that your Transition is not a theory or an event.

Your Transition is a real process with various purposes. One benefit of a deliberate, purposeful,  planned Transition, is that it will give you confidence and peace of mind. Another key benefit is that as you experience your Transition, you will experience renewal and fulfillment…and that is the key purpose and benefit of your planned Transition.

Words Are Important to You

It is important to distinguish between “retirement” and Transition. Some dictionaries define “retirement” as to discard, refuse, banish or reject. I believe that these are not proper terms to describe an experience we all share as human beings. In contrast to that dark view, the term Transition as I use it, describes a human and positively healthy process. Its purpose is to create renewal and fulfillment that is the source of lasting joy. It is a process that you design according to your vision of your present and future life.

“Retirement” closes the door; Transition opens new ones.

Focus on Relevance

The basic human need for relevance is inherent in our nature. It is experienced by men and women, day laborers and professionals throughout the world.

To experience relevance, to feel it, is a good thing. To be appreciated, valued and feel the expressed gratitude of others are healthy and powerful emotions that reinforce a sense of self-worth and purpose. These emotions help fuel the many motivations of our lives.

I believe that there are two sources of personal and professional relevance. The primary source arises from within ourselves. The secondary source is expressed to us by others.

It is beneficial for you to understand this concept with clarity and have a solid balance between these two sources of relevance.

However, there exists a significant tendency to attribute the source of our sense of relevance to that which is provided by others within our sphere of influence. Notice that I use the word provided. I do so because it is common to depend on others for our source of relevance while not placing the proper value on our primary source. And sometimes over-dependency on external sources of relevance can be detrimental to our well-being.

I believe that the really solid and clear basis for characterizing, understanding and actualizing a sense of personal relevance arises from within ourselves. This is particularly applicable as we begin to plan and experience our Transition. This is the very time when the role that has provided you with external relevance will come to an end.

How Can You Achieve This?

I suggest that you consider, for your own enormous benefit, that it is really you that is genuinely empowered to judge your relevance to yourself first. You do so by reaffirming Who you are, which gives rise to the Why of your life. You will then achieve clarity of your character and conviction of your purpose in life. A major benefit of this is that, as you live true to both, you will more readily find new endeavors that will fulfill your need for expression to the world around you.

Conviction of your life’s purpose is the key to the door of creating ways to express yourself to the world around you.

From that, the clarity of your uniqueness will reveal its great value as you serve others. That then, becomes an ongoing source of affirmation of relevance that supplements its primary source.

How You and Others Benefit

A true sense of personal relevance is born of clarity of self (Who), purpose (Why) and its faithful expression (What).

To be of value to others, to be relevant to them, we must first be relevant to ourselves. The primary basis of relevance arises from within, not from without.

As this is accomplished, your inner strength will be evident to those who care about you and others. They will intuitively know that there is a special inner strength of character about you. They will know that despite the absence of the daily sound of minor and major accolades that you have been accustomed to, by virtue of your devotion and service to others during your career, the essence of your being remains intact. That palpable strength of character will sustain you and provide the courage to create your renewal and ongoing fulfillment according to your own design.

As you live that experience, by your example, you will continue to teach and others will learn values and lessons that someday will serve to guide them in their lives.

That is a profound and noble legacy. Rejoice in it and feel relevant!

You may feel like the sun of your life is setting, but please know that it is within your power to live your life just as the sun, which warms the earth, is preparing to rise even as it sets.

How will you exercise your power?

PS: Do you want to learn more from me about how to create and experience a fulfilling Transition rather than an unpleasant “retirement” experience? To help you, I provide consulting services tailored to your specific needs. Click here to apply for a complimentary strategy session.

Hold Your Own, Hold Your Ground - Sierra Nevada

© Enrique Fernandez, M. D.