Time for a Change

Time for a Change A Change Might Be Just Around The Corner by wordboner Jeremie Miller is a fellow International Coach Academy student who I met via the message boards. I forget the thread that sparked our introduction, but I should tip my hat to it because Jeremies awesome. He writes a kick-ass blog called Sunday Night Success is, in my opinion, a Goal Guru he knows how to set em accomplish em get the support/structure you need all the while. Currently, Jeremie is a life coach for Dads, but hes been on a long journey to get there. Read below about his path, how he consistently ditched safety for the pursuit of happiness. Career changes have never really frightened me. That is not to say that, when I decide to make a change, I am not plagued by the small voices telling me I am crazy, that it will all fall apart, and that I am making a huge mistake. I hear all of those voices. They have just never stopped me from making the change. I listen to them, sometimes quake in my boots at what they say, but I always continue making the change, and take them along for the ride. Grocery list of careers My first real “career” was in a research lab working on genetics projects. The work was interesting, but I was also isolated from human interaction for the majority of each day. I realized that human interaction is vital to my happiness in my work and I needed to find something else. Time for a change. The something else turned out to be working as a barista in a coffee shop to fund my volunteer work on a crisis and suicide prevention phone line. The work on the phone lines was super fulfilling, but it didn’t pay the bills, and the coffee shop started driving me crazy. Time for a change. I ended up working for the John Howard Society in an eighteen-bed halfway house helping federal inmates on parole reintegrate into society. Again, an amazing job where I got to make a difference. Unfortunately, a client’s suicide attempt and my reaction to it resulted in my need for a break. Time for a change. A complete change this time as I ended up working as a staff writer for Electric Playground, a video game review TV show. Playing video games, writing reviews and editorials, and creating multimedia content was a blast. I mean why would anyone give up on that job? I met an amazing girl. She lived in another city, over 10 hours away. I was in love. Time for a change. This time I spent two years getting my education degree. My wife (yep I ended up marrying that girl. Totally worth the move) and I worked as teachers for five years in the city we were living in. Problem was: we didn’t like living there. Time for a change. We sold everything, packed everything up, bought a house, moved to our dream town in the middle of the mountains, and had a baby. Did I mention we made the move without jobs? I have taught on call for over two years now and my wife has been taking care of our son. It hasn’t always been easy, but we are living our dream instead of dreaming our life. The teaching work is sporadic and it hasn’t been paying the bills. Time for a change. The final change? I know myself well enough now to realize that my career must include engaging and helping other people. Whether on a phone line, in a halfway house, or in a classroom I am happiest when I am helping others achieve something. I am also tiring of working for someone else, and have a growing desire to try a new adventure all on my own. This time the change came with a great deal of self-reflection and a lot of thought about how to be my own boss. In a couple of more months I will finish my training with the International Coach Academy and become a certified professional coach. I am currently starting up my own coaching business, have seven clients, and am once again having a blast. Will this one stick? Will it soon be time for a change? Who knows? Who cares? Which is more important to you: the safety of your current career, or being happy? If you goal is happiness, isn’t sticking with the career you dislike far scarier than trying something new? On my soapbox I think I am so willing to take the risk and change my career for two reasons: 1. I want to be happy. 2. I know there is always a way to make the change work. So many people would rather be miserable, but “safe” because they are worried that, if they take the risk, it won’t work. My perspective is that it WILL work. I think we are all far better at adapting to new situations than we think. If you are willing to take the risks you will be able to find a way to make it work. There may be rough patches, and it may not turn out exactly how you planned, but then you just adapt again, and keep adapting until you find a way to make it work, and a way to make it work that makes you happy. There may be risk in changing your career, but that risk is far better than the certainty of staying in a job that sucks out all of your energy and leaves you lying around on your couch every night like a zombie watching pointless television. Risk or certainty? Happy or zombie? I have no desire to snack on brains.