Write a Letter to Yourself From the Other Side
This exercise is consistently one of the most useful things a returning professional can do when a search feels long and hard. Writing from the perspective of having successfully returned to the workforce and settled into a role you are genuinely proud of activates a part of your thinking that pure tactical action does not reach.
This exercise is consistently one of the most useful things a returning professional can do when a search feels long and hard. Writing from the perspective of having successfully returned to the workforce and settled into a role you are genuinely proud of activates a part of your thinking that pure tactical action does not reach.
Step by Step
Imagine it is one year from now. You are six months into a role that you are genuinely glad you came back for. The search is behind you. The return is complete.
Write a letter to your current self from that future place. Include: What the role is and why you are proud of it. What the return taught you about yourself and what you bring professionally. What you would tell your current self about the hard days of Week 4. What you are most grateful for about the experience of returning to the workforce. What you know now about your own resilience and capability that you could not have known before you went through this process.
Read it back.
Save it somewhere you can return to on hard days.
Tips This is not a wishful thinking exercise. It is a clarity and resilience exercise. The goal is to reconnect with where you are headed and remind yourself that the effort you are putting in is leading somewhere real. Be as specific as possible in your imagined future. The more concrete and detailed it is the more useful the exercise becomes.