Choosing change

A meaningful career change will often affect vital components of our lives.

At best it is an exploration of who we are, and a journey towards a more lively expression of ourselves – living up to our values and spending time on what energises and interests us. This is often what inspires us to change.

But along with these desired changes, other things change too. It can change how other people perceive us, and who we spend our time with. It changes what we are rewarded for, how we are rewarded and how often. This can be healthy, or it can be an unpleasant shock when things we take for granted change. One thing I know I need to prepare for mentally here is moving from stable salaried employment to the unpredictability of self-employment.

Career changes can also affect our physical health, our mental health, our emotional health and our social health. One of the things I am looking forward to is having physical activity be part of my job rather than something I fit in round the edges. And on a mental level, I will be exchanging the frustrations of not being in control for the different challenges of freedom of choice.

I love this quote from Lois McMaster Bujold:

“When you choose an action, you choose the consequences of that action. When you desire a consequence you had damned well better take the action that would create it.”

For me this encapsulates the fact that change has consequences, and we should be aware of that as we change. But knowledge of consequences shouldn’t stop us going after the things we desire.

What changes do you desire, and what might choosing them mean?