It takes courage to leave the familiar behind and venture forth into the unknown. However, when a routine begins to feel like a rut, you've got to turn your life around, or resign yourself to living out your days dissatisfied with your life.
I remember leaving home after college graduation. My new job was four hours away. I knew no one in the city. I had a few hundred dollars, a healthy dose of fear and a lot of hope. Looking back, I now know I also possessed a lot of courage. When you're afraid of the next step, take it anyway. That's my definition of courage.
That's the first rule of my 8 Ways to Turn Your Life Around, and it bears repeating:
1. When you're afraid of the next step, take it anyway. Change involves risk, but it is the only way to move your life forward.
Growth is the only evidence of life. ~John Henry Newman
2. Know what and why you want to change. Why do you want to move or change careers?
Life is its own journey, presupposes its own change and movement, and one tries to arrest them at one's eternal peril. ~Laurens van der Post
3. Do your homework. What are the pros and cons?
Begin challenging your own assumptions. Your assumptions are your windows on the world. Scrub them off every once in awhile, or the light won't come in. ~Alan Alda
4. Find a mentor. If you want to become a chocolatier or a photographer talk to someone who has your dream job. Observe, read and familiarize yourself with your new heart's desire.
The art of teaching is the art of assisting discovery. ~Mark Van Doren
5. Let passion play its part. What drives you? What do you look forward to? What makes your heart sing?
Chase down your passion like it's the last bus of the night. ~Glade Byron Addams
6. Confirm it with your gut. Intuition is under rated. Let it speak to you and listen.
Trust your hunches. They're usually based on facts filed away just below the conscious level. ~Joyce Brothers
7. Commit fully to the change. Getting married with the backup plan of getting a divorce if it doesn't workout makes it easier to accept failure.
Go for it now. The future is promised to no one. ~Wayne Dyer
8. Burn the bridge back. Burn the little black book from your single days. Let your mother turn your old bedroom into her new meditation room. Turning back is not an option.
Unless commitment is made, there are only promises and hopes; but no plans. ~Peter F. Drucker
Cross over the bridge.
2 comments:
Another one:
Prepare for the head-on collision that you never saw coming.
Or, is that too negative?
Maxine - Being prepared is not a negative thing. Sometimes that is the only positive thing in an undesirable event.
Thanks for stopping by.
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