A Life Without Mondays

 Several times throughout the year there are indications that the seasons are changing. After living in one climate zone for several years, you readily note the change. However, in our personal “seasons” of life it can be a little more difficult to spot. So, how do you know that it may be time to change your job, look for a different position, or seek out new roles? There are three signs that may indicate it’s time for change!

1. Briars enter the nest.  I have heard several people speak about mother bird’s bringing briars back to the nest where her babies are, in an attempt to get them out of their comfort zone.  The adding of the briars causes the babies to want to move around and get out so they have sufficient space.  Once they are out, the mother bird nudges them with her beak and begins to teach them to fly.  I LOVE this analogy (whether it’s fully true or not I have no clue but it is a great visua)!  Can’t you just imagine this whole scene playing out?!

For us, briars can be A LOT of different things.  It can be a sudden change in attitude of those around you that seems unmerited and totally shifts the atmosphere for you; it can be a growing disinterest for the things you enjoyed about your job when you first started but now dread; or it can be a realization that what once fulfilled you, no longer does.  Briars come in all shapes and sizes and are in the nest for varying lengths of time before they nudge you out.  Regardless of the cause, if you are feeling that friction and discomfort, it may just be time to start exploring what it looks like to step out of the nest.

2. Does fulfilling your current position or role feel like a forced effort rather than a graceful feat?  Most of the time, when we find ourselves in a career we realize there was a reason we landed there, something that drew us there.  For example, perhaps it was a love of people and problem solving that put you in a customer service profession where you could meet new people and provide solutions to their issues.  Your gifting and personality led you to the position and the position grew your gifting; they fed each other.  However, in recent days you may have noticed a shift in your grace for the job.  What once fueled you and brought deep satisfaction, now stresses you and produces a sense of drudgery.  In every seasonal change I have experienced, I have felt “the grace lift.”  In some seasons it was a sudden shift of grace and in others it was a slow growing discontentment.  In either case, when I was willing to assess what was truly going on, I could feel and see that I the ease of “doing” was now replaced with a forcing and strain.

Do not get me wrong, there are times in life you must go through difficulty in your position for personal and professional development.  And, if you short circuit the growth process because you are unwilling to be teachable, you will end up repeating this pattern in every job you take thereafter.  However, there is a difference in sensing that the moment is to grow you and a realization that the role no longer fits you.

3. Anxiety before the start of the work week/prior to doing that job is common place. If you feel anxious, get grouchy, and have a hard time sleeping the night before your return to that role, you may be getting signs that your season is changing or needs to change. We were not designed to just go through the motions, to accumulate enough wealth, to retire and THEN live a good life. We were created to live abundantly now. If the only peace you have in staying is that there’s only “X” more days until vacation, or “Y” years until less pressure, you are living from the wrong place. In fact, are you living at all or are you waiting to truly live?