Latest / Unstuck with Bill / Unstuck With Bill - Moving forward after feeling stuck in a career part 1
Transcript
- speaker-0: I guess ⁓ where I'm stuck is that I have a set of skills and passions, ⁓ but I can no longer ⁓ allow myself to be in these hostile systems that harm me. speaker-1: I'm Bill Ferguson III. For more than 20 years as a mediator, I've helped people move through conflict, uncertainty, and change. This is Unstuck with Bill. The podcast where we don't just talk about problems, we give you the techniques to get unstuck. Our guest, Jill, is from Tacoma. She is standing at the beginning of a new chapter because the path she's been on no longer feels right. Today we're exploring how to move forward when your life is asking for change. Jillian, give us a short version of where you are right now and what feels stuck about what comes next. speaker-0: I am currently in my seventeenth year of teaching visual art to children in a variety of school systems. The current one I'm in now is an independent school system. And after that amount of time and experience I have felt that trying to be a practitioner in those systems it has caused me a lot of ⁓ I guess grief and Yeah. It's yeah. ⁓ i yeah, well, it there's moments still that I enjoy it. It's just that it's everything that comes with being an educator in these systems that became unsustainable for me. Meetings, reporting, loads, class loads, and even going from like speaker-1: Good word. Not fun anymore. speaker-0: very high class loads to a bit of a lower class load in my current setting. ⁓ the demands and expectations are different, but just as ⁓ cognitive and emotionally loading. And I'm I'm ready to use my skills ⁓ as an artist or as a an seasoned educator in other ways that aren't in these systems. speaker-1: That's that that helps. That explains where we're here today. That's good. That's great. Thank you. So what I usually like to do with guests is ⁓ we start out with the first technique and it's kind of a grounding technique. And I I call it ⁓ stabilize the situation. And it's very short, and what we're really just talking about is what in your life is working right now outside of this current job that is, you know, this current place so you're at work wise. Like what else what in your life is actually working for you outside of that? And it's sh it can be short, you know, two or three good answers or things you can come up with or speaker-0: What is working for me is having flexibility in how and when I work. I can go into long periods of intense focus and achieve a lot of things, but we'll need to recover from that. ⁓ I need time to be able to step away when I am feeling overloaded to, you know, bring myself back together as so to speak, like mind and body. I think because of the type of work I do. It's very stimulating. So yeah, just being able to step out, you know, when you're in when you're in a classroom, you don't really have that choice. speaker-1: Right. Gotcha. Okay. So let's move to the next technique. And this one I c call clear the cash. And we're gonna do it together. So when you think about leaving teaching in the current environment, right? And what's next, what are all the things that are kind of noise in your head right now? Like what is filling up your mind? ⁓ Usually it's the anxiety, you know, or the the verbal ⁓ language around what's going on. Or, you know, usually when people are stuck, that's part of it. speaker-0: Yeah. I think just expectations and pressures. speaker-1: And whose expectations are that? speaker-0: ⁓ my family's my own. I invested a lot of time and money into pursuing this path. And though you know, I'm not indebted to that, it's still a cost, you know, to my to my lifetime, my my my lifespan. And it's it's something I've devoted a lot ⁓ a lot of myself to. So that's one. And the other one, I'm so sorry. And the other one is gee, I would say like, you know, when we we live in a society where it's expected to have insurance and it's expected to be able to pay your bills and your mortgage. And you know, when you when you think about careers like that, it's like I wish I could just like run feral in the fields in like a wild stallion and like make art. speaker-1: Right. There you go. Yeah. That's the hardest part about being an artist is making a living while being an artist, right? Yeah. Any kind of creative endeavor, you know, writers, podcasters, etcetera. Yeah. speaker-0: Right, yeah. It's risky. It feels risky. speaker-1: Okay. All right. Well there's a good one. That's what that's one of the things I was gonna ask you. So one of the things that you're you're having in your head, it sounds like, is the risk. The risk of making this big change. And right. Yeah. So the other thing I'm hearing is you're talking about the investment, you know, a lifetime, education, et cetera. Is there a part of you that feels like right now that you're not gonna be able to utilize that investment? In another way? speaker-0: Yeah. Yes. Mainly because I feel because of what I practice with with young kids, particularly working with children. I have a very specialized skill set as a visual art educator. ⁓ you know, it's not like I'm a general educator where I ⁓ work within many subjects, but speaker-1: Okay. speaker-0: I I just feel like when you look at it on paper, it's like, Well, she's just an art teacher, you know, but I'm so much more. speaker-1: So ⁓ okay, that's a good place. So when you say something to yourself like she's just an art teacher are you thinking that that's what other people are looking at when they look at later your C V or when they talk about you in reference speaker-0: I think if they don't know me, yeah. Like if I were trying to seek per opportunities that aren't specifically that like that, they would be like, She's done seventeen years of this one particular thing and you know but if they knew me, they would know that that's not true. Like I do a lot of things. speaker-1: Right. Okay. That's and that's a that's that kind of leads us where we're gonna go next. So the next technique I want to introduce you to, I call the cloud. And what I want you to envision is that you're a bird and you're flying over your life since before you went to college all the way till now. And what I want you to look at is all the different roads and pathways and things that have kind of happened. speaker-0: Okay. speaker-1: from a you know a career perspective and as an artist. And then I want to ask you when you first started school, ⁓ I'm assuming that, you know, art has been a part of your life up until you started college, right? So then ⁓ when you got into college, what was your intentions, you know, originally degree wise, you know, before you even started teaching or anything? speaker-0: Okay. Wow. So originally originally I went to school for marine biology. Even though I didn't grow up next to the ocean. Yeah. I went to the University of Rhode Island and studied marine science. And then I realized that you know, I didn't want to be working in a laboratory. I was more social than that. And my biology teacher told all of us freshmen to stand up if we were marine if we were a marine biology track and there was like hundreds of people in that hall and half of them stood up and he's like, I have news for you. You're not gonna be swimming with whales. So you're gonna probably sit in a laboratory for a lot of part of your life and you have to just accept that. And I was just like, well, that's the hard truth. And okay. And I did try it for a couple of years, but it was a lot of lab work. It was organic chemistry and stuff. Not my thing. So but I love I love science and I love ⁓ the marine ecosystems. Anyway, I was also taking art classes because I was an artist as well. And was ⁓ seduced, I think, by the the culture and the lifestyle. And we had a lot of people from like RISD visiting and it felt right. And so I transferred out of Rhode Island, because that's not my home state, back to my home state of Pennsylvania and finished my degree with ⁓ a studio arts. Studio arts degree. And then my advisors were asking me what my next steps were. And I said, I didn't know, but I was going to continue making art. And they said, Well, we and at the time I was teaching dance to ⁓ teenagers. Cause I grew up dancing. So I taught dance. And then they're like, Well, you're already teaching, so maybe pursue that. And I thought, Okay, I'll give that a go. And then went into my graduate work. ⁓ and got a certif certification in the process of that. And that is very neat. Like ⁓ do go do something? Okay, go do it at a master's level, like right off the bat, you know. And ⁓ speaker-1: How do you feel though that decision, that pivot? when you made speaker-0: It didn't feel totally right. It felt like I was doing it out of duty to my debt. Gotcha. You know? Like I was doing it because I needed I needed to feel like I was making an income w that was reliable. ⁓ I was broke, you know. It's scary when you're young. speaker-1: Right. speaker-0: Yeah, yeah, it's just it's the big bad world. Yeah, so that's it. Like And then from there on I just stuck with it because that's what I thought I was expected to do. Yeah, when you're young and you're you've got like loads of debt, breathing, you know, just carrying you on your back. Like you're just carrying it on your back. And and I came from nothing. Like I didn't have parents. I didn't I signed a bunch of papers when I was 18, taking on thousands and thousands of dollars of debt. And I just thought I'll be a public servant, you know? I'll go that path. I'll do for me what art like my art teachers I will do for other kids what my art teachers did for me, which was make me feel like I was a part of something bigger. And I think visual art, because it's one of the first forms of human communication, it's so accessible to anybody, no matter what your education is. And once you understand the power in that, it it's ⁓ For me, I couldn't let that go. speaker-1: It sounds to me like you went a certain path based on a combination of things. It was it seemed logical at the time for your age. It was a path you felt like you would, you know, ⁓ earn a living and be able to take care of this debt that was all yours. There was no parents to support you and to get you forward in life. And so you did that for seventeen plus years, right? So yeah. So then what I want to do as we c is as part of this cloud. Okay, so we have we have where you came from. And you know, there were probably ups and downs with different ⁓ school systems and whatever. Some probably were better to work with than others. But I would imagine, and you can tell me or answer it, is what was the most rewarding part of what you did do these last 17 years? speaker-0: I changed children's lives. There you go. I know I did. speaker-1: There you go. Right. All right. Sad deal now. speaker-0: Yeah, I I gave us Yeah, it feels it feels great. I think especially children like that were like me, the you know expressing yourself in a way that wasn't on you know, ⁓ on a test. speaker-1: Right. Right. speaker-0: ⁓ Yeah, it feeds your soul. It's like a space in a school. It's a space. The art studio is a space in a school where it it's it's transform it's a transformational space. And children get to play there, they get to be children. And I and my philosophy is like I don't adultify children and in the way that some traditional art programs do. I mean, they I prescribe to ⁓ choice based learning ⁓ experience where they get to decide what kind of art they're making. I teach them techniques, we go over concepts and things, but really it's them. They're the artists. So I make artists. speaker-1: There you go. That's yeah, that's what I want to get to. There you go. So over seventeen years, you've made a lot of artists. Some of them may be doing art, some may be doing it for a living, some may be doing it for a way of releasing stress, some may be doing it to get keep their creative juices flowing. But you've created I don't know, thousands of artists, tens of thousands. I don't know how many students you've gone through, but how many roughly a lot, right? speaker-0: Yeah, thousands and thousands. speaker-1: Yeah. Okay. So when you look as a bird over the last seventeen years, even though you went in a direction you didn't, you know, maybe not were as passionate about as you thought, you seem to have how found a passion within that, like to take being an artist and to share it. Right. speaker-0: Yeah, and I got to scratch my scientist itch too, because you're an as an educator. speaker-1: True, you're experimenting, right? As an educator. Absolutely. Yeah. Experimenting on what worked and what didn't work when you're teaching art. Right. Okay. So you got them both. All right. So let's let's take the cloud the next step forward. And this is something that you will you will work on at home. And and then now we'll have you back so we can Take that work, you'll come back and we'll talk about it, and then we'll we'll create the next step of the techniques for you through the process. But what I want you to do is while you're soaring, either now or over the next couple of weeks, because I'd like to see you back in a few weeks, hopefully, is I would like you to start looking at what you do, but take the education part out of it. And not and not just, okay, I'm an artist and I teach art, or I'm a teacher who teaches art, or I'm an art teacher, or however. Take those labels off of it. Look above and say, okay, what what do I really do as a person in my professional capacity? Yes, I'm an artist. Yes, I teach art. Yes, I've taught thousands and thousands of children. I've changed lives in this way. But what other aspects of it that I'm not really looking at right now because I'm down in the middle of it? Does that make sense? Mm-hmm. It's hard to do, that's why we don't do it live. It really is one of those Yeah, for some people, you know, it's you do it in pieces, like I like to tell people that use their note app on their phone and when an idea strikes their head, ⁓ I do this and then just write it down. Does that make does that make sense? speaker-0: Yes. Yeah, it's like my competencies beyond, you know, the minutiae of teaching. speaker-1: Correct. Or minutia that goes with the minutiae of teaching. Yeah. Or and and ⁓ and being an artist is a minutiae and teaching people art is a minutiae but but you are much more than that. You started out as much more than that. You've probably don't realize that you've grown much more than that over the last seventeen years. I mean, I know you've grown out of what you've been doing emotionally and and you know, different ways, but speaker-0: Yeah. speaker-1: I see that there's so much more to you that you don't see yet. And I think the use of the cloud technique to soar above your life and look at different aspects and different places and different changes. Anytime your life changed in some way, that's a good way of looking at, okay, who who was I in this moment or what was I doing? Or what was I capable of? That's the list I would like to see from you when we come back. Okay. From that list we'll build you down the next technique. speaker-0: Okay. So exciting. Yeah. Yeah. speaker-1: Hey. Okay, good. I'm excited. So well, I really appreciate you being on today and I look forward to having you back in a few weeks. That means you only have a few weeks to do your homework. Lad of soaring to do. But you know, do it however it feels best to you. You know, keep keep notes and ideas and what I tell people when they're looking at this is don't think small or big. Just think. Whatever comes to your mind is, Wow, I'm capable of I've done this. Even if you've only done it once, but you've done it. Yeah. Just create a list. And don't try and tie it to teaching or being a mother or or whatever. Just tie it to your you. Like, you know, and don't don't edit it down like, well, I don't really love this, but I can do it. We will work on that later. Okay. Just put it all down. Okay. Okay. All right. You can do that. Terrific. All right. Well, thank you so much. And I will see you in a few weeks. And thank you for being on today. speaker-0: Thank you, Bill. speaker-1: Before we wrap up, I want to leave you with one thought. Many people spend years building an identity around a role, a title, or a career. And then one day they realize it no longer fits. And that at your core can feel unsettling. But it can also be the beginning of something important. What I appreciate about Jill's story is her willingness to explore who she is beyond what she's done. Because we're always bigger than the labels we attach to ourselves. So, if you're standing on the edge of a new chapter, maybe the goal isn't to figure out what you're going to do next. Maybe it's simply to become curious about what else is possible for you. Thanks for joining us on Unstuck With Bill. I'm Bill Ferguson the third and I will see you next time. To learn more about my unstuck techniques, or if you'd like to be a guest on the podcast, Visit UnstuckWithBill.com. My latest book, Unstuck: How to Move Forward When You Don't Know What to Do, is available now on Amazon.com. And be sure to follow me on social media at Unstuck WithBill. Unstuck With Bill is produced by Unstuck Productions LLC.