Optional: Do This Exercise with a Family Member
If you are an early career explorer, we suggest you spend a bit of time with a parent or older adult in your life. Time permitting, talk with an older family member (parent, guardian, or older sibling) and work with them to draw 1-2 of these maps about their own life with you.
Choose a map and explain the process. You can do it with them in person, online on Zoom, Skype, or Facetime, or explain it by phone. You can email them the pages from the PDF, which is on the site, or you can just ask them to draw it on a page. Work with them on the map, and then spend some time sharing their thoughts and your thoughts afterward.
Why do this exercise?
We have found that many of our creative careers students have set limits and expectations based on what they think that their parents expect — or more importantly, what they assume or understand that their parents expect.
Often, this understanding may be based on something that had happened in a parent’s past, or a fear based on their own life.
From this exercise, many students have found that they have been creating their own stories about what their parent’s life has been like or WHY their parent believes the way they do about the “right” career path.
This conversation on what the parent or other adult’s life journey has been so far has been VERY helpful in clearing up misconceptions and other challenges.
Take a moment for some reflection. What are some differences that you anticipate or have experienced when navigating a creative versus a more traditional career path?
