As many of you know, for the past 22 years I've had the great fortune and freedom to work for myself as a therapist. Yet for many reasons during this last year, I became increasingly uninspired and unfulfilled. I felt like I wasn't being all that I could be anymore and I struggled with the 'knowing' that it was time to move on.
Isn't it funny how we will continue to stay in a place (job, relationship, or otherwise) simply because we know it well, even though it no longer feeds our soul? It certainly wasn't the FIRST time I'd done this in my life!
So I dug deep, doing an insane amount of soul searching. The biggest question I continued to ask myself was, "What do you really want to do?" I have always been one to have varied interests, which in this case, complicated things. I ended up having so many ideas on the table that I literally went into what is called 'analysis-paralysis.' I was frozen. Although I don't even believe in mistakes, at this point in my life, I feared making one.
Through this crazy process I realized there are three main challenges that occur when we wish to change careers:
- Even though it's you that wants the change, you will be you're greatest obstacle.
I knew I needed to shift into a career that had me excited about my life again, yet at the same time, I wasn't sure what I wanted to do, or if the ideas I did come up with were viable. I was scared I would make a poor decision that would ultimately land me on the streets pushing a cart. (Well maybe not that extreme but close!) In the end, my silly fears were my biggest obstacle to overcome. - You can't figure it out by endless analysis.
My modus operandi for several months was spending my evenings going round and round in crazy loops in my mind, analyzing every conceivable move I could or should make. I would toss and turn when going to bed and wake up bolt-right each morning with an intense urgency to figure things out. The truth is, if the answers to my career lay within endless analysis (research, list making, incessant thought) I would have solved it long ago. - 'Searching' for a job is not the answer.
You will discover, if you spend any time at all in search of a job online, that you are not qualified for most of them and the ones you ARE qualified for, will land you into the same arena you are currently wishing to get out of. I wanted to do something completely different. I wanted to stretch and challenge myself. I wanted to still work for myself yet do something more creatively fulfilling, that would help others and have me jumping out of bed each day excited to get to work.
The Solution:
Just make a decision.
Don't stay stuck in your head, trying to figure things out. Take a course of action and realize you can always course-correct down the road if need be.
Search for people, rather than a job! Get out there, talk with those who are doing what you want to do. Ask questions. When you connect with people, they are able to see the real you - something a resume will never accomplish.
Action leads to clarity.
After I took a deep breathe, put the cuckoo back in the clock and stopped driving myself mad, I simply made 'a' decision. Then I took action. That's when everything began to shift.
Now I'm heading in a completely different direction, on a path that is expanding me beyond what I thought I was ever capable of, leading me toward new and exciting ventures!
Where am I going? Who knows? But I'm definitely on the road to somewhere! 🙂