Trying harder at a job you’ve outgrown won’t make you happier

You’re in a great job.  You make good money.  You may even work flexibly, for example four days a week or from home on Fridays.  People are interested when you tell them what you do at dinner parties. You take Instagram-worthy vacations and live a pretty healthy lifestyle, despite the lavish dinners and social events with friends.

However, you feel like you put on a mask every morning when you go to work and are working and living life on the surface. You touch upon moments that make you truly happy and are fulfilling, but they are few and far between.  These moments are generally with family, time spent outdoors or when working on one of your hobbies.

You don’t hate your job, but you don’t love it either. People around you don’t understand you are feeling restless because there is something bigger you are longing to do.  Your internal world does not match your outside world and you feel guilty for wanting more where others seem perfectly satisfied. 

As a result, you try harder to enjoy your work, you try to get along better with your manager, you have performance management meetings, you hold on until the next bonus and search for another role internally that may be more interesting. Maybe find a similar role in another company? You feel you should just be grateful for what you have because, what else could you do at this point?

Ask me how I know.

I’m here to tell you, there is nothing wrong with you.  You are looking for more freedom. You want more from life. You want to create, to make a bigger difference, to feel excitement when you wake up in the morning about the day ahead and the possibilities available. You want to create life on your own terms, with your own ideas, at your own time. You want to put your own stamp on the world, instead of working on someone else’s dream, day in day out. 

“The most important kind of freedom is to be who you really are” Jim Morrison

The current job market isn’t designed to let people rise to their fullest potential.  When we have been working long enough, some of us reach a point when we want to do something different. 

As you evolve as a person, your career may not be evolving with you.  This is why you feel constrained and the work you do now seems irrelevant – you have outgrown your career.  As you evolve, you have a bigger need for development and your current career may not be able to provide it. This person you have become, and are still becoming, needs a work life to match. You want to put your best self to work, no more hiding it and trying to fit a square peg in a round hole. No more doing what you’re good at, in sacrifice of what you could be great at. 

You are so ready for a change. You have been ready for such a long time, but where to start? Get in touch and let’s have a conversation. I will explain how to go from feeling stuck in the same career for the rest of your days to a new career path that matches your deepest wishes. 

Making the decision to do work you absolutely LOVE will help you finally feel like YOU again and your world will start to transform into one that reflects your true self.

Photo by William Iven on Unsplash