Cultivating an Identity and Interestsoutside of Your Career Is Key to Wellbeing

• Citation: Vol. 51 No. 1
• Year: 2025

Cultivating an Identity and Interests Outside of Your Career is Key To Wellbeing Vol. 51 No. 1 Pg. 26 Vermont Bar Journal Spring 2025

by Julia Guerrein, Esq.

A common first question when people meet each other is "what do you do?" While an easy icebreaker, this initial introduction provides only a small snapshot into who someone is. Without a doubt, our careers are important facets of our identities: whether it's because someone finds meaning intheircareerthrough personal development, contributions to society, or the financial stability it provides. Someone's job also takes up a large portion of their time, and it's fulfilling to work hard to achieve more at work.^[1] Despite this, cultivating a sense of self outside of a career is also important. Pursuing other passions and spending time with a partner, family, friends, and pets can create a greater work-life balance and provide other areas of fulfillment, happiness, and/or satisfaction in our lives.

Family and Friends

In general, people with a community have better mental health. These people are important to building a healthy network. Whether it's someone you call when you get a big win or when you experience something devastating, it's important to have those people. It's also meaningful to be a part of your family and friends' lives.

A person's partner or spouse is also integral to their health and wellbeing. Being married and having a happy marriage is positively associated with better mental and physical health.^[2] Happily married or partnered individuals generally have better overall health and greater life satisfaction than those who are not married.^[3]

Healthy familial relationships are also integral to wellbeing. Healthy intergenera-tional relationships, such as those between parents, children, and grandparents, provide social support, stress relief, and socialization that positively affect well-being.^[4]Close, healthy familial relationships can also create a sense of meaning and purpose in someone's life.^[5] Likewise, close and healthy sibling relationships also positively affect well-being.^[6]

Having close friends also significantly improves someone>s mental health and physical health.^[7] For example, people with close friends generally have lower stress levels than those without friends.^[8] For those without close familial relationships, friends can also become a "found family."

Those strong relationships outside of work help people build strong bonds and create a life and support system outside of their job. In addition to being an employee, people can find meaning in being a parent, child, partner, or friend.

Pets

Spending time with an animal companion can create happiness and lower...