Career transition like any life transition is inevitable. Change is fundamental to life! It can be difficult to release attachments, because we have used them to form our identities. Rightly or wrongly, attachment to what was… can get in the way of what will be.
Usually the information, resources, support and knowledge that got us to where we are now… will not be sufficient for the next stage.
That is why it is often easier to stay where we are, than it is to go forward and through what seems like the shifting ground ahead of us.
The risks of not moving forward include a greater distance between who you are and who you want to be or who you thought you were.
The weight of that dissonance is a burden that begins to erode:
- one’s goodwill…
- one’s peace of mind…
- and any chance at inner harmony.
People begin to:
- avoid your calls;
- have eyes glaze over when you are speaking;
- become impatient;
- or be frustrated with your laundry list of complaints and dissatisfaction.
Eventually you will also tire of your own “stuck-ness” and you will no longer have a choice…. you’ll have to either be proactive or react to the naturally occurring events that signal the end of an era.
Change is a life force that has a dynamic energy. The results are vast and include a variety of occurrences:
- the economy dives;
- bankruptcies are filed;
- people get laid off;
- departments close;
- people move;
- funding changes;
- caseloads ebb and flow;
- management gets overhauled;
- agencies shutter their doors;
- performance reviews sour;
- accidents happen;
- people get sick;
- children are born;
- marriages begin and end;
- and ultimately unmovable “you” will be pulled, pushed, shoved, tugged or toppled over by the momentum of change if you are not flexible and do not adjust your mindset as needed.
These changes can often feel like a violent lurching backward or forward. You can lose your chance at balance if you have not prepared a core strength and an inner agility. I believe this strength is largely based on inner peace.
There are many ways to work toward inner peace. I do not suggest that my way should be yours. But I will say that calming anxiety and fear is a must!
Your movement toward whatever you want will ideally be based on faith (and preparation), not fear.
Your response to the life force that is change must include finding your own center and then generating momentum to move forward. Instead of nervousness… shift to excitement.
Why go through all of the angst of resisting change to try to hold on to what is or was familiar and what you thought was safe?
Why not step forward toward the changes you want in your life under your own power?
There are no awards for staying longer in a position where the best of who you are is underutilized.
Being a martyr isn’t admirable. Even those who empathize with you are turned off by the tacit agreement and attachment you have to the story of why you’re unmovable. Not to mention all of the stories you have about why someone else or even a whole system should do the changing.
It is true that many systems and people need to grow and change… it is not true that you alone should try to force this change through sheer will and wish.
Nor does it mean you should delay the purpose in your own life waiting for that change to come.
As for me, I believe in being a change agent of those things that are within my power to change and/or making adjustments in both my being and my circumstances based on changing conditions. Either changing what is….or accepting what is…
I view unhappiness and dissatisfaction in myself as a smoke signal. A natural part of the landscape; yet still a warning of either an intentional or accidental fire. Sometimes that fire needs to burn and extinguish. Other times you need to search for it and put out the fire.
When I was in 7th grade, I participated in a science program at Fernbank Science Center. Seventh graders from different schools all over the country were bused to Fernbank to focus exclusively on science.
We took classes in various science specialties including astronomy, microbiology and ornithology to name a few. The one I liked the most was all about:
- trees;
- forests;
- ecosystems;
- the under-story;
- and the cycles of plant life.
I remember being amazed to learn that forest fires are necessary to create rich and fertile new soil. Ideally these fires would be naturally occurring or controlled fires.
When I look back on those lessons with adult eyes and experiences; I realize that what I learned was that sometimes what was there before must be burned away.
What remains after the fire is the enriched earth…. and from that ground something new will spring forward.
So when it comes to career and life transition, let the natural fires burn. Re-plant yourself in what remains…
It is part of the natural cycle. To interfere with this cycle is to reject the unfolding of your deepest desires. How can you cultivate what you want in your career if you won’t risk letting go of what came before?
Copyright © 2015 Ruby Blow. All rights reserved.
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