I have been working since I was 15. I dropped out of school and started as an office junior in a solicitors. I worked hard and was promoted and have been doing what I do for 21 years.<\/p>\n
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I am good at what I do and it pays well but (and there’s always a but) it’s no longer fun. I’ve always loved it but that’s ebbing away. My professional world is changing. Law firms are becoming more businesslike (not before time) and the government is changing the legal landscape (not for the better). My role probably won’t exist in five years time.<\/p>\n
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I’ve watched as friends make huge life changes. It’s inspiring and a privilege to see someone work out why they aren’t happy and then work to change that. It’s never an easy road. Income reduces, time with loved ones is less while plans are made, stress levels go up, wrong turns are made but the end result is always the same. They always become more of themselves. Lighter, happier, joyful.<\/p>\n
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I’ve watched it happen so many times. At first, it was great to see but I thought “that’s not for me, I’m happy doing this” and I was. Then it becomes “that’s not for me, I’m doing this”. Then it’s “that’s not for me, I’m stuck”. Stuck is an awful place. Stuck is trudging through, ploughing on, getting on with it. Stuck ain’t happy.\u00a0Stuck is fear. Stuck is making the best of it. Stuck sucks. I have been stuck for a long time.<\/p>\n
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Then I got unstuck. I’d been trying to get unstuck for a while. Reading all the books, thinking all the thoughts but there was no inspiration. No plan. Until there was. What I hadn’t realised\u00a0was that finding a new path is not a task but a discovery. It starts when you first feel dissatisfaction and that stuck is a step along the way. It can be quite a few steps if you are impatient and believe you can think your way out of everything. The one thing I did right was paying attention to what I felt. I know exactly what a normal day at the coal face feels like so when the fizzy inducing stuff comes along I know it immediately.<\/p>\n
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Everything is a process. I’ve done the work on stuck, now I need a plan. The next steps needs funding, training and patience. I need to work on all three but at least I know that nothing will happen overnight and following the fizzy feeling will never lead me wrong.<\/p>\n
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