Congratulations, You Made It! (I Mean it.) Now What?
You – yes you – have checked A LOT of boxes.
Bachelors? Masters? Ph.D? CHECK. Additional professional training? CHECK. Years of experience under your belt? CHECK. Climbing the company ladder? CHECK!
But how do you actually feel? The odds are that you’re still miserable, my friend. You might think you’re fine or, at the very least, that someone else has it worse. But here’s the reality: You don’t have to be in the emotional gutter to be miserable!
Up to this point in your life, you may not have had the “luxury” to stop and take stock of how you actually feel about the career you’ve been building – about the life you’ve been building while you’ve had your nose to grindstone. But now, it’s starting to catch up to you.
What that feels like in your day-to-day will vary. For some of us, we find it harder and harder to feel rested. For others, it’s like most things in your world are slightly muted. Our accomplishments don’t hit the way they used to. You name it. But one way or the other you start looking around and asking yourself, “Is this it? Is this all there is?” Worse, you start asking, “Well, what is wrong with me?”
Sound familiar? That’s what happens when you’re stuck checking boxes that are. not. yours. Those feelings will get stronger if you don’t do something about it. And I don’t care what you were told about “strength” and “resilience” – you do NOT want to shrug those feelings off. Instead, you want to reevaluate.
So here’s the good news: You are now in a position where you CAN reevaluate. If you don’t believe me, scroll back up to the top and read that checklist again. I’ll wait…That checklist means you CAN create the opportunity to examine your choices because you have established your foundation. You have established enough distance between yourself and the threat of annihilation – and that’s NOT hyperbole. Too many of us are operating from the space of fear, when our realities are so far from the thing we are afraid of. For example:
You are no longer starting out. Instead, you are established in your career.
You are not struggling to merely survive. Instead your survival needs are met.
You might not own the moon. But you’ve got some padding in that bank account.
You – yes, you – are as safe as it’s possible to be.
You – yes, you – have arrived. And it’s time to let that sink in.
That foundation that you built is NOT going to up and disappear. Let that sink in. So now is the time to pay attention to those emerging feelings and questions, and give them the space they deserve. Now is the time to rethink your career journey, and ask yourself: “Is this how I actually want to spend my time? Is this how I actually want to spend my life? Is this really my calling?”
One of my new clients was sitting with those questions recently, and realized that the answer was a big NO. Getting to that NO was a hard journey, but she was able to trust herself and accept that NO as her honest answer. Do you know what happened next? Before our second session she had launched a whole business and secured her first $20,000 contract. Before our second session!
That’s the power of checking your own boxes, trusting your foundation, and designing your life versus just sticking with your career. Not sure where to start? Let’s connect, and help you do some good old fashioned soul-searching.
