It’s Monday
again. How do you feel about that? I hope this post finds you content in your
career and rewarded in your role. But what if it doesn’t? What if you woke up
dreading your day, feeling anxious or just plain bored of the daily grind? Can
you actually DO anything about it without burning all of your belongings and
running off to live on a Kibbutz? Or, only marginally less radically, going
back to study and eating nothing but baked beans and instant noodles for three
years straight while learning to enjoy wine in a box?
The answer
is yes. You can.
Not too long
ago, I made a decision to change direction career-wise. I was afraid of failing,
of the financial impact of not working towards a "proper" career
and of putting myself out there. I did it anyway, holding my breath all
the way. Today, I sit at my desk, forging my "patchwork" career, made
up of things I am good at and things I enjoy. It feels amazing to be creating the
life I want and to be genuinely doing more of what makes me happy. I did not do
it without some small changes, a leap of faith, a little luck and a lot of hard
work. But it can be done.
I used to
wonder who those people were who did jobs that they loved. It seemed impossible
for me then. Watching Escape to the
Country or Location Location Location
(don’t judge, that stuff is addictive!) I would fair seethe with envy at those
people who declared “Oh, I work from home and can live anywhere.” What did
these people do for jobs? How did they pay the mortgage? What was their secret?
It’s not fair; I want to be free to
work anywhere. Harrumph.
Then, one
day, I decided to do something about it. My “secret” was to start doing
something towards my dream job before I left the old one. In my case that dream
was freelance writing and I began by starting this blog. It was incredibly
nerve-wracking to offer myself and my words to an unseen reader, knowing that I
may get shot down in flames. But I had to try, I couldn’t even begin to dream
of writing without actually writing (who’d have guessed) and I needed to be
accountable.
My big leap
of faith came when I stopped working on my PhD. It was heartbreakingly hard in
some ways and breathtakingly easy in others. With my newfound time and lack of
guilt (never underestimate the weight of guilt, holding you back) I put myself
out there, offering my experience in marketing and PR and scoring some great,
ongoing work with wonderful clients. Next came a piece of slightly-engineered
luck in the form of a job offer to write for Vintage Caravan Magazine. I say engineered because I sent the
editor a link to my blog (having mentioned her fabulous publication in a blog
post), she read it and offered me a job. I got lucky, I
know that, but without the first small step of my blog, that opportunity could
not have presented itself.
Recently I
pushed myself again and took a course in writing for magazines and newspapers
which gave me the confidence to pitch my article ideas to editors. I sit here
today working on a commissioned piece and reflecting upon the journey I took to
get here.
It’s not
over of course, I need to work hard to keep getting published and to turn
writing into my “proper job”. I’m not there yet. But I’m a damn sight closer
for having tried.
So maybe
today could be the day you start the change in your life. I know it’s hard,
when family and money and responsibilities are all massive considerations. But
is there something small you could do in your daily life that would be a step
towards your dream job? Could you volunteer to do something at work that is
more in keeping with the role you want? Sign up for a short course online, just
to test the water? Offer your services to somebody already in the field you’d
like to join?
Take a
little leap of faith and who knows, Mondays may never be the same again.
