Integration & Cooperation

Finding your Work Fam

Last week, I opened up about my journey through various industries—how I found myself in each one, the lessons I gained along the way, and how those experiences shaped the person I am today. Stepping away from traditional work has given me the space to reflect deeply on those chapters, evaluate what truly aligns with my values, and map out a path toward work that feels meaningful and impactful. For much of the past decade, I juggled two or three jobs at a time, often gravitating toward roles I thought aligned with my passions or for employers I admired. But constantly running from one thing to the next, without the freedom to express myself authentically, left me feeling exhausted and burnt out. Over time, the toll of that lifestyle became evident, not just emotionally but physically—I could literally feel the life being drained from me.

The JEMM I am focused on today, Integration and Cooperation, is designed to help you embrace collaboration and identify the right people to work with, empowering you to step into your inner Warrior—a figure of clarity, focus, and purposeful action.

The guided meditation in the JEMM takes you on a journey through the human body, a marvel of interconnected systems working in harmony. Each system relies on countless individual parts to function optimally. In this meditation, you’ll visualize yourself as a single cell within the body, choosing the part you feel most aligned with. Just as our bodies depend on every cell, society thrives on diverse systems and organizations working together. Your role is to discover where you fit best, honing your abilities to become an essential, functional part of the greater whole. Even when we feel lost in the crowd, every cell—and every person—plays a vital role in shaping the bigger picture.

To guide your reflection, I’ve crafted the following questions. These questions are typically for those that are looking to start their career, or pivot direction. If you are content and happy with where you are, that is amazing! Keep doing what you're doing! You are welcomed to reflect on these questions and see how you can take your current position to the next level.

Take your time with them and notice how the answers resonate:

• What are your past experiences?

  • What did you enjoy most about these experiences?

  • What lessons or skills do you want to carry forward?

  • Were there any specific team dynamics or coworker relationships that stood out?

    
    

• What are you passionate about?

  • Where do you feel the most alive, energized, and aligned?

  • What issues do you want to solve?

  • How do you see your passion contributing to a team or community?

    
    

• Do you want to continue with the industry you're in (or have been in), or are you considering exploring a completely new field?

  • If you want to explore a new field, what’s drawing you to it?

  • Are there any barriers, and how could you overcome them?

    
    

• Do you want to go back to school?

  • If so, what would you want to study, and how does it align with your ideal career or coworking goals?

  • What steps could you take to make that happen?

    
    

• What role did you thrive in the most out of all the positions you’ve tried?

  • Why do you think you excelled in that role?

  • Did your role involve collaboration? If so, what made the dynamic successful?

    
    

• What type of people do you work best with?

  • Do you prefer working independently, in a team, or a mix of both?

  • What qualities in others (e.g., communication style, work ethic, energy) help you thrive in collaborative environments?

    
    

• What communication method works best for you?

  • Do you prefer face-to-face discussions, emails, messaging apps, or a mix?

  • How do you feel about frequent check-ins versus more autonomy?

    
    

• Think of a time when you faced adversity at work.

  • How did you navigate it?

  • Was the situation resolved through teamwork? If so, what role did you play in the group?

    
    

• When working with others, what is most important to you?

  • Are you more comfortable with clear roles and structure or a free-flowing dynamic?

  • How do you like to receive and give feedback?

    
    

• What strengths do you bring to a collaborative environment?

  • How do you support and uplift the people you work with?

  • In what ways can you improve as a teammate or collaborator?

As an added activity, you can make a collage of pictures like the one above to help visualize what work environment you are gravitated to. What would your picture collage look like if you took the snapshots of your work experience and created the grid above? What were key moments of growth for you? Where did you find the most joy? Where did you feel the most successful? Where did you connect the best?

For the rest of this post, I’ll be answering the questions above for myself—partly as a way to share openly and partly to offer inspiration for anyone who might be feeling stuck or unsure about their own answers. My ultimate goal is to work for myself, earning an income through writing, content creation, and designing meaningful experiences, like retreats, in the future. While I’ve already created quite a bit, I’ve realized that selling my own work is an area I still need to grow in. In the meantime, I’m ready to start exploring new employment opportunities, whether here in Canada or somewhere else in the world.

However, as I search for a new job, I want to be intentional about finding a role that aligns with where I’m headed and what I can genuinely contribute, rather than settling for something out of sheer necessity. I recognize that this is a privilege not everyone has, but my hope is to inspire others—especially students—to approach their future with this mindset, so they can make thoughtful, empowered decisions based on choice rather than obligation.

• What are your past experiences?

  • I have a lifetime of different types of experience, but what really has stood out in recent years is working in the auto industry catering to high-profile clients, building strong relationships with each client, and perfecting my presentation skills

  • In the last four years, I worked in the fitness industry, learning about the culture, and also sharpening my consultative selling skills - which is really just getting to know the client, asking questions they haven't really thought about themselves, and to present solutions to help them get to where they want to go

    
    

• What are you passionate about?

  • Dance, Self-Development, Health, Sustainability

  • I am passionate about our human bodies and how to improve them

  • My passion is to help others to become as sustainable as possible, starting with their own personal lifestyle and fitness

    
    

• Do you want to continue with the industry you're in (or have been in), or are you considering exploring a completely new field?

  • I am currently looking for a fitness studio that shares the same values I do

  • I'm looking at any company that is all about enhancing humanity

    
    

• Do you want to go back to school?

  • I want to be my own type of doctor - I'd like to specialize in nutrition, and complete my yoga teacher training, and perhaps my personal training certification, specializing in women's health

  • I want to work towards understanding the female body, and supporting girls and women in learning how to nourish their bodies to the best of their ability; to understand how their bodies work, what they can expect from their homonal changes, and how to support these changes through diet and exercise

    
    

• What role did you thrive in the most out of all the positions you’ve tried?

  • I thrived the most in the auto industry - I was surrounded by people, mostly men, that became really good friends. Once I understood the product and what people were looking for, I became really good at presenting their purchases, and teaching them about all the tech features, and getting them excited, diminishing any buyers remorse

  • I think I excelled at this position because I was working under the top salesperson of the entire brand, he treated me like his sister, and we had a strong partnership. I don't think I would've stayed in the industry if it hadn't been for this bond that we created.

    
    

• What type of people do you work best with?

  • I have only wanted to work for people that have the share the same values, and this is evident in each person that I was working under

  • I thrive when there is a clear understanding of what needs to be done, what is expected of me, and when I feel like my presence is needed.

    
    

• What communication method works best for you?

  • I will always choose face-to-face communication rather than any other form of communication. I am getting better at writing and emails, and I'm working on my online presence.

  • I appreciate when there is mutual trust, honesty and respect, and thrive the most when those are all present

    
    

• Think of a time when you faced adversity at work.

  • There was a time in a particular job where I just couldn’t seem to connect, and that discomfort lingered throughout my experience there. It started with one person having an issue with me for reasons I couldn't understand, and from there, I just never felt at ease. On top of that, juggling two other jobs made me less reliable, which didn’t help matters. Looking back, I regret not confronting the situation with more courage, not taking the time to understand why she felt the way she did. When I don’t feel wanted, I tend to struggle, and this situation led to me becoming too shy to ask for help, not being as assertive as I could have been, and feeling isolated. Honestly, I think this experience contributed to where I am now.

    I kept pushing forward for a while, but in hindsight, I wish I had put more effort into mending that relationship and into truly mastering the role I was given.

    
    

• When working with others, what is most important to you?

  • I appreciate a clear understanding of my role and what is expected of me.

  • I welcome constructive criticism as soon as it is needed so that I can correct as quickly as possible. I thrive when I build relationships with higher management where we can just talk like friends, and be straight with each other rather than passive aggressive.

    
    

• What strengths do you bring to a collaborative environment?

  • If I'm working for a company, I will always have that company's back. I will see the best in everything they do and strive to always leave it better than I found it.

  • I try my best to see the best in everyone around me, and that has been the attitude that I bring to every place of employment. When I work with people, and when I'm around people in general, I always try to see their highest potential and try to pull that out of them.

  • There have been moments when I had ideas for collaboration that sparked a lot of interest, but at the time, I didn’t feel ready to step into a leadership role. Now, with my ideas more fully formed, both in my mind and on paper, I feel more confident and prepared to take on these collaborative projects.

If you've made it this far, thank you for taking the time to learn more about me, my journey, and the vision I have for serving others. Your support means more than words can express. Writing these posts every day since the start of the year has been such a valuable exercise for me, helping me refine both my writing and my understanding of where I want to go. Ultimately, this site aims to create a community of like-minded individuals who are eager to elevate all aspects of their lives and live more sustainably. So, if you're reading this, thank you for being here from the very beginning.

Now, I suppose it's time to start applying for those new jobs... and who knows, I might just send them straight to this page! 😄

See you next time, Warrior!

One Love Always <3