THE ONE THING THAT GOT ME TO CHANGE MY LIFE
This morning’s run at the beach was often stopped by the beauty of this place. Being at the beach so often reminds me of the tangible effects of taking control of my life.
As good as my life seemed from the outside 5 years ago, as excited I was about having a good job where I did interesting work with smart people, I was at this time every day in a corporate bus that took me to my corporate job where I felt quite stuck. And I felt bad about feeling stuck! In the past I had been ok with with feeling stuck and unclear. I tolerated that feeling just fine, because the “practical” in me “knew” (as if this was a fact rather than a belief) that life is hard and at work we all have to suck it up and be “responsible” - as in making money and putting up with annoying projects with annoying people and bosses who couldn’t get us.
It’s pretty powerful and convincing isn’t it? We all are told to “grow up” so we can do what we need to do to be financially responsible. The problem with this line of thinking is two fold though: we assume that growing up means putting up with things we don’t want to do, which takes us down the mental model of choosing what others think is right rather than what we FEEL is right.
That kind of thinking is actually more like Growing Down! Growing up means expanding our horizons, not narrowing them. It means seeing possibilities. It means practicing the willpower to go all in rather than standing on the side. It means thinking big. It means sticking with what might seem an impossible vision when others don’t think it’s possible and remind us so.
All progress in humankind has been made in this way. When we figured out how to get people to the moon or how to create anesthesia to operate, the process involved a bold vision, a belief that it’s possible, a desire to act on that vision by overcoming our “practical” status quo beliefs. And one more thing..
Five years ago, the thing that finally got me to resign, was actually the desire to be a ROLE MODEL OF SOMEONE INTERESTING AND COURAGEOUS for my kids. So the last piece to uncover is: WHY do you want to make a big change? What’s your motivation? The way you answer makes ALL the difference 💕
