I’ve had a lot of people lately going through career change. We talk about how to navigate the process and expectations. And we talk about how it takes a long time to settle in to something new.
It got me thinking: I reckon all change is like that.
So I’m going to share what I share with my career change people.
When we start to think about changing things we usually have an idea of what we don’t want anymore and we have a vague picture of what we do want.
Usually there’s a part of us that thinks we should be really clear on where we’re going and what we want. That part also says that there should be a clear path to get there.
Unfortunately change (of any kind) doesn’t work like that.
Let’s just say that you’re unhappy in your relationship. You think getting out of the relationship might be the change you’re looking for. You start reading stuff on the internet about problems in relationships and see that maybe you have more of a part in the state of the relationship than you thought.
So now you’re off on a different path of change – you decide to try the relationship with you changing what you do. Maybe that will work. Or maybe that will get you looking at other things and trying those for change.
Change is not linear process. We do not move from one thing to the next in a straight line. It’s more curvy with a few twists and turns. And we tend to course-correct when we try something and doesn’t work like we thought it would.
The people I speak to tend to have a fair bit of pressure on themselves to get it right when they’re in the change process.
If you’re in the change process and you’re feeling that pressure to get it right, try to be a bit patient with yourself and what’s happening. How can you possibly know what something new is like until you try it. I’ve tried loads of things that I ‘should’ really love – on paper it looks right up my alley. But in reality I’ve found it boring or not my thing at all.
So no matter what change you might be going through, try to keep an open mind. Be on the lookout for what the little twists and turns might reveal. Because in the midst of those might be just the thing you need or just the thing you love.
