Reflections
You’re sitting at your desk, staring at your computer, feeling stuck and dissatisfied with your job. Maybe you’re yearning for something better—a chance to retire early or a miraculous financial windfall to liberate you from the grind. You know that such dreams are unlikely, yet the idea lingers. Perhaps you’ve even toyed with the thought of starting fresh, learning to live with less, and leaving it all behind. But something always holds you back—a need for financial stability or the comfort of routine that makes work feel like a familiar, if uninspiring, part of life.
I know what keeps my nose firmly at the grindstone: It’s fear. Fear of the unknown. Fear of financial uncertainty. Fear of leaving behind my professional identity I worked really hard in my younger years to forge. I’m building a plan to escape this rut I find myself in. I’m planning my escape, building “what’s next”, giving names and pictures and timelines to my future vision. I’m doing this so that I can’t chicken out. So that I have no choice but to abandon my career that feels so cold, stale and almost hostile.
How did I get to this point? How did I take these first important steps? I hired a jailbreaker. A what? Well, I call her my jailbreaker. She calls herself a life coach for women asking themselves “What’s next?” I have an immense sense of gratitude for this coach of mine. She basically talked to me through the bars of the career prison I’d built for myself and said: You know what? The key to your escape if right “THERE” if you just reach out, grab it and unlock the key.
She’s right! I’m living in a prison of my own design. A comfortable prison, for sure. But I’m starting to buck in the stall, to get restless and ready for something bigger. I’m not a brash or careless individual. I can’t just chuck it all and run. I’m building a plan, I’m beginning to step into my new reality, and I’m building a vision for my future that is so enticing, so exciting, so authentically ME that I will not be able to step back into my rut. I’ll be running too fast forward.
KEY TAKEAWAY: I know a lot of you are cynical of life coaches. The bad ones may come off as hacks, or second career floppers or snake oil salespeople. I’m not telling you to find just any coach. Find one you can trust, hopefully one you’re referred to who has been trusted by others in your network. Then work with that person. “It works if you work it.” Let go a bit and let them drive their system and hold you accountable. Working with my life coach has been a pivotal, liberating experience. I want the same liberating pivot for you.
