[00:00:14.290] - Gabriela Brunner

This is Gabriela from The New Firm. I'm also the founder and creator of The Guided Career, a beautiful eleven week immersion program for people who are seeking to, in short, make a career transition. So there's so much that goes into a career transition, and a lot of it ties back to some of the basic themes that we experience in our lives. I'm not good enough. What if I don't find anything?

 

[00:00:42.320] - Gabriela Brunner

How am I going to support myself if I don't have this job? It's literally and physically making me sick. But I can't leave because what are people going to think about me? How am I going to explain it to somebody? If they say you quit law, you quit that big law firm to go somewhere else and make half the money.

 

[00:01:02.890] - Gabriela Brunner

When they're done that, you're quitting your law practice so that you can become a coach or have your own business or stay home with the kids. Been there too. And being able to just say those things out loud sometimes can be really challenging. It can be and feel very vulnerable. So I wanted to share a story with you guys about something that happened to me which is so interesting.

 

[00:01:28.990] - Gabriela Brunner

And then it came up again last night when I was speaking to a woman who was interested in the Guided Career. So she was telling me about how she's currently in a temporary job, a temp job, right? So she most likely signed up with a temp agency, and then she gets to go around and do the work when the work is available. We were talking about the fact that that job is actually giving her space to heal because she came from a profession where she felt drained, taxed, literally probably a few weeks short of maybe getting really sick because of the stress, the pressure, internal and external, all of that, right? All the factors that we can identify with when we're in a job or career that we really don't like or that doesn't fit with us.

 

[00:02:20.800] - Gabriela Brunner

So I remember telling her last night, I was like, oh my gosh, this happened to me too. And I actually fought it too thin because let's read out my bio. At the time, I was a practicing attorney. I held onto my degree. I made it.

 

[00:02:40.860] - Gabriela Brunner

I did it. I paid all this money. I'm going to be a lawyer if it kills me. And it kind of almost did in a way. And I remember leaving a job because I couldn't be there anymore.

 

[00:02:54.490] - Gabriela Brunner

It just was too much. My kids are coming, so bear with me, please. So I ended up deciding to just quit because that's what I needed to do for myself in order to make myself feel better. I'm talking about temporary jobs. I'm talking about the impact and effect that they can have on us.

 

[00:03:14.190] - Gabriela Brunner

I'm talking about being completely burned out where you currently are, that you literally have to make mental lists or even written out lists saying, get up, take a shower, go to the bathroom step by step because you don't know how to help yourself. Go step by step. And so I remember quitting my job as an attorney and saying, I'm going to work on my business. I'm going to do this full time, thinking that of course, if I quit, then that means that the clients are going to start coming because this is what I meant to do. So I quit.

 

[00:03:47.840] - Gabriela Brunner

And of course, it took some time. And when you're used to getting a paycheck every week or every two weeks, then one week can feel like ten years. So I was like I remember saying almost like throwing my hands up in the air and saying, oh my gosh, I need money, I need a job. I need something that can help support me while I grow and build my business and do all of these things. And then I remember receiving a couple of emails from a temp agency saying, hey, we have this position you might be interested in.

 

[00:04:17.040] - Gabriela Brunner

I would say, no, I can't do that. I can't go back to something that's law related. I can't gosh, what are people going to say if I do something temporary? Oh my goodness, all of this kind of stuff. So I was literally here I am, noticed the discrepancy right here.

 

[00:04:30.520] - Gabriela Brunner

I am literally begging for money to come to me, and I'm having email after email offering me these temporary jobs. And so I'm sitting there and I remember talking to my mom about it, and it's almost like she saw the light bulb go off. And it was like, oh my gosh, that's actually the way that the universe is saying, here's an opportunity, here's a breather, here's a chance to get some money so that you don't have to worry about that part of it and to do something with your time, because my kids were in daycare full time at that time and to have an opportunity to just breathe. So what I realized was that 1 minute, sweetheart, I'm almost done, okay? What I realized over time, this is my second baby, or my first, I should say.

 

[00:05:18.690] - Gabriela Brunner

What I realized over time of doing this temporary work was that number one, it was a paycheck. Number two, it was somewhat related to my skills, so I could do it right. It was no problem. Number three, it kept me focused and busy enough. Number four, it provided me an income to be able to then continue to do the things that I wanted to do.

 

[00:05:37.690] - Gabriela Brunner

And number five, it gave me the space to heal. It gave me an opportunity to take a step back, to reassess where I was, to not worry about whether I was going to lose my job if I couldn't go to work because my kids were sick or because I just couldn't get up that morning because I couldn't face the workload. So I'm not necessarily saying that a temporary job is right for you right now, but if after thoughtful and intentional thinking and planning and letting yourself be guided to the place that you need to be, that could be a beautiful bridge to helping you figure out what is next and to take the pressure off of having that financial burden. Because one of the things that I've noticed is that anything that you focus on is energy going out. So if I'm worried about my career, my boss, my job, my kids, my home, how am I going to pay for my car, am I going to be able to put gas in the car?

 

[00:06:29.720] - Gabriela Brunner

Then I'm not going to be able to have any energy to focus on actually healing and figuring out what that career transition is for me. So think about that, think about that as another possibility or opportunity for you in the event that you feel like you need a break or that you need an opportunity to heal and some space to heal. And I'd love to talk with you more about it. I'd love to see where you're at in your career transition, how I can support you, and how the guided career can be the foundational piece that can help you create that space so that you can heal after a traumatic job experience or traumatic transition experience and give you that leg up so that you can feel invigorated, nurtured and empowered and to move forward. So thanks for bearing with me.

 

[00:07:19.380] - Gabriela Brunner

I wish you a beautiful Tuesday. Please get in touch if you are feeling the call or the nudge to be a part of the this program. It's about half full now and I would just love to be able to connect with you and see where you're at. I'll talk to you soon. Bye.