Turning Water into Wine: An Innovative Way of Overcoming Stress Through Poetry

Abstract

An individual’s career cannot be separated from other aspects of their life. Experiences like the sudden loss of a loved one or other unexpected events or transitions can lead to a sense of overwhelming stress and disempowerment and these emotions don’t disappear at the workplace. Yet such challenging experiences can be leveraged for personal and professional development. This chapter explores the utility of poetry writing to facilitate healing and growth in the context of unexpected life and career related transitions. Through autoethnographic inquiry, the author describes how writing poetry helped her overcome the stress arising from various losses and unexpected life and career transitions in her own life. The author tracks her progress along four career learning stages, the broadening of her I-positions based on Dialogical Self Theory, and the evolution of her metaphors toward a more hopeful self-narrative. The chapter demonstrates the value of therapeutic writing for self-healing and growth from a disempowered first story to a more empowered second story. Implications for counselling practice and suggestions for further research are discussed.