The Joys of Transition

Since leaving my job, I have been journaling my transition - my transition from full time employment to self-employment/entrepreneurship. It’s interesting to me how quickly we forget how we react when going through a major transition in life.

It has been 4 months since I left my full-time job. I can look back now and realize that I really didn’t have a concrete game plan in place when I left my job. Yes, I planned on pursuing a career as a Life Coach and by December want to own my own coaching business, but I didn’t fully think about everything that would have to transgress between now and then. I couldn’t get past my excitement of leaving a 40 hour a week job that I had become stagnant in. The excitement was as far as my feelings would take me.

Once that first Monday came around where I didn’t have to wake up and drive to an office I felt lost. I didn’t know where to start. I was close to paralyzed with indecision. There were days when waking up was difficult because I had a whole day of nothing planned and that made me anxious. I tried to incorporate a routine workout program, only to feel so tired in the morning that I would sleep through my “scheduled” workout. I would come up with great ideas on programs to create, or ways to advertise myself, but then fear would overcome me and I would hear a little voice saying, “that’s stupid, no one cares, don’t do it”, and I would follow the voice.

I became angry with myself. I thought something was wrong with me. I would constantly ask myself, “Why am I so tired? Why can’t I make a decision? How did I just spend three hours on Facebook/Twitter/LinkedIn? What do people think of me? Wonder if I completely fail at this entrepreneur thing?” This went on for weeks.

Then slowly, I began to have more energy. I found myself waking up at 6 am for my morning ritual of watching Joyce Meyer on TV, prayer and devotion, then working out. I actually started sticking to an exercise plan. I realized that as I was exercising, I would come up with ideas, and these ideas would put me on a path of action for the day. I set out to accomplish a few things each day, even if it was just to pay the bills. Once I accomplished one thing, it gave me the momentum to keep going.

I realized that when I have an idea, I have to jump on it before the devilish voice defeats me. Acting on the ideas generated meetings with people, where I was actually getting out of the house! Instead of feeling overwhelmed, I started being more aware to what felt right to me. This lead me to make more confident decisions, and once I decided on something I moved right ahead without questioning myself.

I was reading my journal of the last few months and I realized how far I have come. I am in no way where I want to be, but I have more focus and confidence and my thoughts are so much more positive! I feel so blessed for pursuing a career that I am really passionate and excited about. I look forward to the challenges ahead. I feel blessed for everything around me and for what the last four months have taught me.

I wish I would have remembered that with any transition (high school to college, single to married, job to new job) there is an adjustment period. I believe it’s your unconscious mind telling you that things have changed and it may take a while to get back on a comfortable track. I would have been kinder to myself and enjoyed the time knowing that this too shall pass.