Week 4

I really identified with Savickas' (1995) concept of indecision as a subjective experience. I believe all of us have transitioned through a phase of indecision or hesitation prior to fully committing to a career pathway. We are often plagued with similar worries about whether or not the career is an appropriate fit, if we will like it, and if we will be good at it. In terms of my own career development, I feel that I made a decision because the time came where I had to. I was an undeclared sophomore in college. I made the best decision I could based on the experiences and information that I had. I would be lying if I didn't acknowledge that I still occasionally wonder if this is the right path for me. There are clearly so many opportunities and careers that I am completely unaware of due to lack of knowledge and exposure. I think that is a common problem many people encounter when considering a career choice: a lack of knowledge of options.

I enjoyed Savickas’ description of the decision-making process as a continuum rather than a dichotomy of decided versus undecided. This seems more practical, as we are constantly growing, evolving, and gathering information. It is not a dichotomy. I was slightly appalled to read that it was once believed that those who were undecided were perceived to be less mature and less accomplished. I can speak from personal experience that I was very slow to make a decision. However, I never felt as though I was immature or underachieving as a result of this. I constantly made strides in the direction toward decision-making. It seems silly to imply someone is lazy or flawed as a result of indecisiveness and uncertainty. Instead, I feel my indecision may have been indicative of conscientiousness and caution, which are somewhat adaptive if you really think about it. I also found it humorous that it was once believed that career indecision was suggestive of psychopathology - that if you were uncertain what you wanted to do with your life, it meant something was wrong with you. This is almost laughable, but also correlates with what we’ve seen in much of our history. We label people we do not understand as defective and problematic.

I thought relating indecision to a life theme was useful. It seems that themes do have the ability to guide our decisions. I imagine these themes originate as a result of personal experiences and access to opportunity, but also in some instances the theme of indecision may be the result of fear. Honing in on one’s theme would help a client develop an understanding of what direction they may wish to pursue with regard to career choice. Essentially, evaluating one’s theme seems similar to introspection, a careful consideration of what may be influencing one’s decisions or what may be holding them back. 

Savickas, M. L. (1995). Constructivist counseling for career indecision. The Career Development Quarterly, 43(4), 363-373.