Career Life Question, Reading 56.3,4 to 23

[Settle Light]

Good day
I had a stressful yet enriching career in a line of work that I was (and am) passionate about for 14 years. I took a break from it for family reasons and also the urge to explore the world as my horizons by then were limited to that line of work and the negative aspects of the job (backbiting, bitching, putting others down etc) were really getting to me.
Recently, I am ready and looking to go back to a full-time career. So I consulted Yijing about what most I should learn from my career experience that 14 years. I spent the last few years of then depressed and unable to fight the feelings of exploitation, yet I question myself as to why i let myself be exploited in the first place? It was to get the job done, and the jobs did get done. But....why...? So I am searching for some clarity in this and searching if I should pursue to get employment in the same organisation.

The reading:
Hexagram 56 (Travelling) with Changing Lines 3 and 4, changing to Hexagram 23 (Stripping Away)

My take (based on Clarity's explanations of the hexagrams) is that I was a traveller through the organisations that I was working in for 14 years (there were two organisations, I worked in the first one far longer than the second. The first one has a bigger impact on me.) This hexagram resonates with me when it talks about knowing that I don't belong and having a strong sense of personal direction, and that I can't change the surroundings nor let the surroundings change me. That was how things panned out. Despite "doing well" in my career then, and recognition, it was always like swimming against the current for me, and the depression that set in towards the end had to do with burn out and trying to resist becoming like the surroundings.

My puzzle now is whether this hexagram is talking about what was happening back then, giving me a clarity of what was happening then, or is it talking about my present situation? Viz, instead of the interpration I typed out above, is the hexagram saying that I am NOW a traveller and the 14 years I was asking about teaches me that i am now a traveller who doesn't belong?

The changing lines:
Line 3: From Clarity "Traveller burns down his resting place. Loses his young helper. Constancy: Danger"
I find this difficult to understand. Could "burn down his resting place" refer to my leaving the organisation, as in I resigned so it was no longer my resting place. Is this line an indication that it is inadvisable try to return to the organsation, because I've burnt it down? I didn't burn bridges. After I left, people there still called me for advice and freelance work opportunities. We still keep in touch. But lately, I realise that they don't remember my requests, they don't tell me about possible work opportunities, but don't forget me when they need free advice and contacts *rolls eyes*.

Line 4: From Clarity "Traveller in a place to stay, Gains property and an axe. My heart is not glad"
So I left the first organisation where I worked for many years then joined another. Again, did well, was recognised for my work, had possibly what was my best boss til then. But still, I did feel then that it was not my place. It got very arduous trying to fit in on top of doing the work. (Why try to fit in? Because I didn't want bad working relationships, I didn't anyone to feel bad etc.)

Changed to
Hexagram 23 (Stripping Away) Clarity explains this hexagram as stripping back the old and unviable to reveal the living core.
This strikes a chord with me because I actually went into a totally different line of work for a couple of years after I left the second organisation. However, my mind was never far from my old line of work and I still received questions and invitations from friends in my old line of work. This presented a form of relief as I was depressed, disillusioned, and jaded in the last of the 14 years.

"the living core" was puzzling me....Well, I just started working part-time in the old industry again, in a different organisation, and a different role, this role is more research-based and meticulous rather than executive. And I love it. I actually love it. I've been in it a month and actually learned a lot, even though the work isn't "dynamic" like the previous ones. A major part of the reason is that this boss is one of the foremost academics in this area. He knows the work. He knows his stuff. Previous bosses were specialists in other areas and more interested in administration and branding. I think this is the "living core" as it is the work that inspires me, which I always found significantly important but ex-bosses didn't feel the same.

Does my general track of interpretation sound like it is going in the right direction?

Thank you:bows: for bearing with my long post.

 

[Tim K]

What most should I learn from my career experience in those 14 years? 56.3.4 → 23
That you are free(56) to go wherever you want to, you were trying to find(.3) a good home but the ones you have found didn't bring you any joy (.4).
Yes you have traveled through different companies (.3), I agree with your thoughts.

23 is about starting with a clean slate, erasing/destroying something to clean up the ground in order to build something new. Paired with 56 could mean - it's ok to change things, to abandon the old in favor of the new and exciting.

The overall feeling I get is that these jobs were temporary(56) houses, they don't really suit you (.4 heart not glad). Find something new (23). (transitional 35.4 says that you are afraid to let go, you've made a few steps but now, at the first sign of trouble are ready to dart back to safety).

 

[Settle Light]

Thank you very much, Ashteriod
i was mulling over it.
Being ready to dart back to safety is insightful. I've also been mulling over this. Safety here refers to financial safety. In the course of my exploring a different field the past couple of years, a family member was cheated of all her life savings and fell very - irrecoverably - ill. What I was earning was not sufficient to cover the monthly care bills, so I've been depleting my savings. I don't have the time and finances to keep exploring anymore. The industry that would most likely pay sufficiently would be the one I left long ago.
The current job is temporary in nature in the old industry, but a new organisation and a different job role from what I used to do (it is a specialist role, which has always suited my profile better than the corporate frontliner ones I was in previously), and has a small chance of becoming permanent if the organisation itself stabilises. (The organisation faces the risk of being closed down.) In this way, this job is new - it is a new orgamisation, different job role, though "old" as in it is in the same larger industry.
But I have more clarity now, and I know there is a next major question I need to consider in my job-search. I need to decide if I should wait for the situation with this organisation to settle or actively look for another job altogether (which is not what my heart really wants, but finances weigh heavily on my mind).
Thanks very much, Ashteriod. I've got a clearer head on this njow.