Catalyst To Change

The stress in my chest felt like a 100-pound weight was pressing down on me. I was buried in work deadlines and couldn’t see a way out except to keep moving forward. But it was like trying to ride a bicycle with tires that kept deflating. I could only get so far before I needed to pump air back in.

In error, I tried to solve the problem by switching the environment. I quickly learned that didn’t work. The delay in accurately assessing what needed to change meant that I was now walking in a maze without a map to see the way out. I would soon find the white flag of surrender and just say enough.

I may have just described how you are feeling. This was my situation right before I made an audacious decision to step back and evaluate my career. The timing clashed with a low point in my personal life, too. I guess it could be cataloged as a mid-life crisis, but really it was me finally saying, “If I don’t change, all of this will crush me.”

The catalyst moment prior to any redirection will produce something so uncomfortable that you end up saying yes to the unknown because what is known by you is unsustainable. 

There is no time like the present to escape the pain from the shackles of a career path that hasn’t served you, which has also prevented you from serving others well.

Change isn’t exactly easy. But staying in the same role within the same environment and experiencing the same pain that has led to health problems, relationship issues, and challenging family dynamics isn’t easy either.

Some say we choose our “hard.”

I think what could be more accurate is to say we have to choose to exchange the harder thing for the pain of what we currently know.

To you, my dear potential career changer, I say:

Let go of the pain that has kept you stuck, and grab hold of the “unknown” of a career change. It is possible to find the best path for you where your natural talents are utilized, your day-to-day tasks energize you, and the people you work with honor what you value.