A career is a professional occupation that you pursue for a significant period of your life, which often requires special training. It frequently involves a series of advancements and different position titles as well. To enjoy the many waking hours spent at work, it helps you love what you do, respect the people you work with or serve, and share the goals of your employer. Finding a creative flow and sparking innovative output is also important, as is engaging with a larger purpose.
When Career Becomes Part of Your Identity
Living with career over time can lead to a fusion of identity and diagnosis. You may find yourself thinking "I am career" rather than "I have career." This identity fusion has significant consequences:
- Reduces motivation (why try if this is just who I am?)
- Increases shame and stigma internalization
- Makes recovery feel like losing part of yourself
- Limits how others see you (and how you see yourself)
Reclaiming a Multidimensional Identity
Your identity is vastly larger than career. A powerful exercise: complete this sentence 20 times with anything other than your struggles:
"I am someone who ___________"
Values, roles, relationships, interests, history, capabilities — all form your identity.
Career as One Chapter, Not the Whole Story
Narrative therapy offers a powerful reframe: career is one story in a much larger life narrative. You are the author, not the character defined by struggle.
Externalizing the problem: Practice talking about "Career that visits me" rather than "my Career." This linguistic shift creates psychological distance and agency.
Building Identity Beyond Career
- Invest in relationships that see your full self, not just your struggles
- Pursue interests unrelated to mental health — art, sport, learning, creativity
- Find meaning — purpose larger than symptom management provides identity anchor
- Contribute to others — giving to others builds positive identity components
- Celebrate growth — document how you've changed, overcome, adapted
The Strengths That Career Builds
Many people find that navigating career develops genuine strengths: deep empathy, resilience, self-awareness, creativity, and a hard-won wisdom about what matters in life.