10 Ways You Know It’s Time For A New Career
Kristyn Meyer is on a journey to make herself the best human that she can be. These posts are a reflection of that. She welcomes your support via reading and through commissioned affiliate links within her posts! To stay up to date on all of her shenanigans, please subscribe to her email list!(psst…there’s a free gift involved)
I recently made a big shift in my professional life. After going back and forth for some time, I ultimately made the decision to quit my full-time job and go into a work from home, freelancing position as a new career. Reflecting on my reasons for wanting to make such a dramatic shift, there were ten key things that made me realize that it was time.
10 Ways You Know It’s Time For A New Career
- I couldn’t walk out the door. Initially, each morning I would get up and get ready for work. My coffee would be in a travel cup, ready to go. Additionally, the children and husband would be on their way to their respective destinations. But I would find myself stuck. I couldn’t quite get out the door. It would take a lot of self-talk and motivation to get into my car and make the drive to my office, but I would get there.
- I wasn’t motivated. The things that had once caused me joy and excitement with my job just weren’t anymore. I couldn’t muster up the needed drive to complete projects in the quality that I once did. They would get done, but not with the same sense of accomplishment as before.
- I was tired all the time. My sleep debt seemed to be a constantly accruing thing, but I couldn’t understand why. I was groggy when I opened my eyes in the morning. Mid-day would also have me trying my best to keep my eyes open. And even worse were the evenings. I would finally be home with my family and I would be counting down the minutes until I could go to bed.
- My anxiety kept climbing. Some days I would find it hard to breathe. I would take mid-day walks to try to calm myself down. During my morning routines I would have knots forming in my stomach. It made it even worse because all of my usual methods for relieving this were not working. In summary, anxiety was becoming a permanent fixture in my life.
- The “Sunday Night Blues” arrived. The excitement of the weekend would come to a screeching halt at about 5PM on Sunday. After that time my mental state would be making a downward shift. Dread would overcome me and I would almost become a different person than what the rest of the weekend had experienced.
- I was angry and short with people. Happiness was not my primary emotion any longer. If people ate their crackers too loudly I felt an internal urge to go off on them. I didn’t feel valued in my role or respected as a person any longer. Therefore, the feeling of being dehumanized was taking a toll on my self-esteem and making me lash out on others.
- I didn’t enjoy life. One day I kept saying: “Life shouldn’t be this hard”. That’s how I truly felt. Life was just hard and it wasn’t fun any longer. Overall, I wanted to look forward to my days like I had before. It wasn’t happening the way that things were.
- I found myself dreaming of my future. I didn’t envision lavish vacations or cruises. There weren’t thoughts of big, fancy titles and corner offices. Instead, when I thought of my future there was a smiling, happy version of myself. Not the sullen, unhappy person that I was.
- I was jealous of other people. Typically, I’m not a “keeping up with the Jones'” type of person. Above all I prefer quality over quantity. However, seeing friends that were chasing their own happiness would make me insanely jealous. I wanted to be them. I wanted to have a quality life, not one that made me dread a full five days of every week.
- A retirement countdown was made. As a result, I realized that it included over 20 years before being possible. Therefore, I quickly made a Plan B.
In conclusion…
Reflecting on my life gave me the ability to make a decision right then. I made the decision that I am not going to be miserable. I get one life, and one life only. My ability to make it a good one is only during this one window of time, of which we don’t know the exact length. I don’t want to spend that time being angry at everything that I am surrounded by. I know that time will be better spent moving towards what I want my life outcome to be. That outcome was most definitely not being reflected in my current role, so I needed to find a new career. I am now currently on the road to being the story that I want to be. I am creating my own legacy, and taking my power back into my own hands.
