Thanks to the information age, we have the ability to create our own professional brand. The bad news is when we are interviewing, we are Googled. The good news is when we are being interviewed, we are Googled. You have the power to give people a reason to work with you. I love featuring professionals who get that they have the power to shape their brand story. With that in mind, I would like to feature The Nature Nurse - Susan Allison ( Guest Blogger) who is using a variety of methods to leverage social media for professional use.
From Susan Allison:
“Your intuition is a muscle. To develop it, you must listen.”
I learned the hard way what can happen when I don't listen to my intuition. That gentle internal 'nudge', an idea that doesn't want to go away, no matter how much self-talk, doubt, resistance I want to give it.
For years, while gardening quietly, in my own peaceful state of mind, the nudge would come--"Write a book." My reply to myself, "I don't know how to write a book." Who is going to want to read a book that I write? I don't have time to write a book. On and on, I fought the idea until one day, while going down the stairs to empty the garbage, I misjudged the last step and dislocated my ankle and broke three bones in it. When my husband arrived in the emergency room, he immediately expressed his concern and then trying to hold back a smile said, "Well, now you'll have time to write that book you keep talking about."
I did write that novel, I Know You're There, and two more. More importantly, I learned how to discern between a fly-by-night idea that pops in my head and a purpose, or calling to do something, even though I may not understand why or how I am going to do it.
Fast-forward a few years and once again I felt that same internal nudge to do something else. It came while meditating, a very faint idea that was just starting to simmer deep inside me. If I hadn't been still and silent, I never would have sensed it. Nature Nurse, it said. That was it. Nature Nurse, it would bubble up again and again. I finally wrote it down in my journal. My way of signaling to the universe, "Okay, I hear you." I certainly didn't want to sustain any more injuries, lol.
The idea began to develop, unfold, little by little. Sometimes it was a huge download of ideas and connections from out of nowhere. Other days, it was put on pause. Some days it was just a new clue or trickle of information on what could be done as a holistic nurse using her love of nature to promote healing, not only for people and other living beings, but for our planet.
The idea began to excite me. I shared it with people close to me. Unanimously, they all had the same reaction, "That would be perfect for you!" I saw the need, I saw the possibilities, I could feel the positive impact, and so I set out to find this job.
I searched every search term I could think of on every job site I could find, but, it wasn't there. The closest thing I could find to my vision were three authors, none of them medical professionals, who each wrote books that included research about the link of nature to our health and well-being. This was something I already knew instinctively and from my own life experience. To see it in writing, with evidence-based support, validated the pull I was feeling to bring attention to and apply nature to healing.
Thank you SO much for your contribution Susan! You can find more about Nature nurse here.