Chapter 13: Career Transitioning with Mind, Body, and Spirit During COVID-19 Pandemic

My life has been a rollercoaster ride marked with positive and negative events over the past four years. From my educational journey to professional work in academic and corporate America, the process of my own experiences has transformed me in the world. When I was a young professional, I did not prioritize my mental health and wellbeing, and that cost me personally and professionally. Prestige and money were more important to me than prioritizing my mental health. That was a fatal flaw thinking, and I ended up not having the prestige that I was looking for in my satisfaction, and the money I saved could not sustain me. I had myself to blame because I knew that I was not living right in mind, body, and spirit. The family that I created became my only hope of living and continuing to dream of bigger things in the world. Transitioning to The Ohio State University to pursue a PhD degree was one of the best decisions of my life thus far. The community of support, love, and care is stronger than I had anticipated. The one constant thing that remains evidently hopeful for me is my family and support system. In this chapter, I introduced you to a part of my life journey through the theories of self-efficacy (Bandura, 1986) and development of self-concept (Super, 2012) where I looked for stabilization in occupational mobility. I utilized subheadings to convey the importance of my lived experiences.