Positive change can have a positive impact on your mental well-being. You can gain a fresh outlook on life and break free from old habits. This is especially true when you are starting a new career. A rut can be broken. Get fresh insights and chances to hone your skills at the same time. It is crucial to understand that change can be challenging. This will enable you to maximize your enjoyment of the encounter. The process can be stressful for your mental health. You may also experience significant stress at work while thinking about career transition.

Mental Health Struggles during Career Transition

• Feelings of failure
• Fear of losing your job is the main reason you want to change jobs
• Uncertainty regarding why a career shift occurred
• Feeling "kicked out" or expelled from peer, professional, and social communities
• Disconnection from the usual sense of purpose or professional identity
• Uncertainty regarding "Who am I now?"
• Avoiding conversations with people who care about your well-being
• Hyper-focused on the physical condition or lack of self-care
• Ruminating thoughts can spiral into a negative emotion that leaves you feeling anxious, depressed, or scared.
• Feeling anxious at night, such as racing thoughts, increased heart rate, or panic attacks, when you wake up in the morning.
• Inability to take action on the supportive actions you have taken, such as networking, applying for jobs, and adding accomplishment statements to your resume.
• "Numbing out" can refer to things such as substance use, scrolling on the internet, and excessive use of other healthy activities (e.g. shopping, eating, sleeping).

Here are some ways to keep your mental health safety in the midst of career transitions:

1: Understand the Challenges

The first thing you should do is gain a better understanding of the possibility of challenges that you might face during your career transition. You need to have more insight into your individual set of symptoms and sensibilities if you are making a career shift. It is a good idea if you are able to identify your triggers under new circumstances. This is especially important if you have clinical anxiety or depression. Although these conditions are very different, however, mental health issues related to career change have overlapped symptoms. One condition can also be a cause of another. It is important to understand the symptoms you experience, and how your environment influences them. Consider how career change can impact your mental health.

2: Have Realistic Expectations

Sometimes, your unrealistic expectations of yourself can be the enemy of mental health during career changes. You naturally want to impress your new co-workers and employer. Perhaps you are even experiencing imposter syndrome. You might try to prove your worth. These can lead to stress if you go too far. You need to keep a realistic view in order to safeguard your mental health through any major challenge.

Consider your limits carefully and with kindness. Understanding your strengths and where you can stretch your comfort zone can help your career transition.  It is not a good idea to push the boundaries when you join a company. This can have a negative impact on your well-being and also be against the company's key cultural values. 

3: Meditation

If your brain feels like cotton wool, how can you navigate a career path? anxiety about a career change can cause a loss of focus and make it difficult to make decisions.

Meditation is a well-known and powerful tool for dealing with this. Meditation can help you feel calmer and more optimistic. You don't have to go on a retreat to be calmer, you can meditate in a place you are comfortable at, for twenty minutes, if you feel overwhelmed at work. It can be easy to feel better by simply taking a walk in the nearby garden area or going to a quiet place to observe your thoughts.

4: Expand your skill set

Changes in career paths can be risky. There are a million things that could happen to you and your career goals, but that shouldn't stop you from trying. It's better to take on a risk than stay in a job you hate. To keep moving forward, you will need to improve your tolerance for fear and uncertainty by developing new skills. Your skills will likely be a big asset while you are making a career transition. You must learn new skills to succeed. This can be achieved through many avenues: higher education, volunteering, temp/gig work, and online training. You will feel more confident and less afraid, the more you are exposed to a new field. 

5: Make new connections

It can be very difficult to change careers later in life. Many career advice articles are written for young adults and do not address people who want to change careers at 30-40, 40, 50, or 50. Career changers have fewer options for scholarships and support programs. Worse, most hiring managers for entry-level positions will disregard your application and prefer recent grads with lower salaries.

We recommend creating a support network to ensure that you have someone to talk to about your problems. You can also look for mentors in your field. It is possible to make connections online and in person with career changers who share your experiences. You can't make changes in isolation. You'll need support, advice, and reassurance. To help you through the changes in your career, connect with other like-minded people, your family, or an experienced executive coach.

Get Support

Seeking Online Counselling from the Best Psychologist in India, career coaches, and Online Therapists can be a way to manage the overwhelming emotions that can arise during a career change. If you are having any other mental health concerns or having troubles with your mental well-being, TalktoAngel can offer the best mental health support during overwhelming times of career change.

Online Career Counselling is an effective way to identify one’s issues, gain insight and confidence to be productive, and have a good quality of life. It is seeking unbiased professional help from the “Best” professionals, therapists, Relationship Counsellors, Career Counsellor, marriage counsellors, the Top Psychologists in India, and the best psychiatrists in India to overcome one’s psychological disturbances. 

One can connect with TalktoAngel Asia’s No. 1 Online Counselling platform and take couple therapy with the Best Psychologist in India and Couple Counsellor for their marital conflicts.

Contribution by: Dr (Prof) R K Suri, Best Clinical Psychologist & Life Coach & Mr. Utkarsh Yadav, Counselling Psychologist