We are starting with a new episode of Lucky to Be Here, sharing an open and honest discussion with Dr. Sebastián Vallejo Vera about his own academic career, which has spanned across all the North American region in the past decade, and what it has been like to navigate this evolution as part of a family unit, along with his wife and kids. We also dived deeper into a discussion that I find fundamental for institutional change in academic and career development: how we think about academia in the context of changing labor markets and needs, and whether it should be considered an industry. Spoiler: Sebastián and I do not see eye-to-eye on this (at least for now).
As we move into the new year, this conversation sparked in me a series of reflections and questions that I want to offer you as you get settled into this new annual cycle. We talk a lot about goals as part of our personal and career development. But goals do not happen in isolation. If you have been here long enough, this does not surprise you because I keep talking about strategy and how it needs to have you at the center of any system or work plan you create. (Side note: remember that if you are looking for additional guidance to plan for your year ahead, you can access the Year in Review workbook I shared last month or join us in AGV Lab for Career Explorers to work on this together).
This time, I want to shift the focus from ourselves and into our communities. Like we discussed during my conversation with Sebastián, we often have to make decisions as units, whether that is with your spouse and kids, like his case, or sometimes with our parents and relatives if we are part of a caregiving support system. Even for those of us who are single and childless at the moment, we are still part of villages that support one another, whether it is a close relative who needs a weekly call to fight loneliness or a friend going through a health emergency and needs specific care.
I wanted to bring this up today because as we go into the new year, we often lose perspective of what truly matters for us, and what is needed of us. We get lost in the goal setting and ambition, and we either lose sight of our humanity (and others’) or we go through an inner battle feeling inadequate for caring more about our own well-being and that of our villages, and not as much about whatever we are doing professionally at the time. It is also true that life has cycles and seasons, and how you might feel right now may differ from how you may feel next month or years from now.
My offer to all of us for today’s reflection is:
Who is part of my village?
Who among them I need most right now and why?
Who needs me as part of their village and how?
And because career development is always in my mind, one last question:
How does this village inform what I am interested in (and willing to!) career-wise?
I hope your start of the new year is filled with joy and a sense of optimism for what it can be. I’ll be here to continue supporting you and rooting for you along the way.
