New Year, New You?

What is it about the start of the new year? Each time I’m the same as I look back over the previous year and not always favourably, hoping that this year things will be different and imagining that I will come out at the end as a new person. I want to lose weight and so I get back into eating healthily and exercising (well walking in my case, but you have to start somewhere). And I think about what else I’d like to achieve. And what it all comes down to is the need to feel happy. In myself mainly, but also in other areas of my life, particularly work. Its where I spend a majority of my time and so its important to me that I feel happy there. I know some will say that working is just a means to an end, that it supplies us with the finances to live the life we want. But I think its more than that. And I’ve been moaning for too long about where I am and what I’m doing.

But it’s a hard place to be when you don’t know what that next step looks like. It can be daunting trying to figure things out, especially when you feel like you’ve been coasting for a long while, stuck in a bit of a rut. Do you stick with what you have, what you know, instead of trying something new? The fear quite often takes over, stopping me from trying new things. But I’m hoping that this time, things will be different. Change is afoot, I can feel it. And I’ve started to try and move in the right direction at least, putting myself in a more positive mindset. In the latter part of last year I made the decision to undertake a free online course in a bid to help me make the transition into a different area. Its small, but it’s a start. I think that’s the most daunting think when trying to plan your future, knowing if you are ready or have the knowledge to be able to explore outside your comfort zone.

I’m in a good place at the moment essentially, I have a good job in a sector that I’m still interested in, so I can stay where I am, knowing that I’m financially secure for now, but allow myself the time to really explore other options, undertake some sort of study or volunteering if I need to. It may even be the case that the right job is here already, I just haven’t found it. But what I do know is that I feel determined to stop talking and start doing, before the lack of motivation about my current role completely grinds me down. I’ve reached a point where I feel the way I feel here is affecting my own wellbeing and mentally, I’m struggling. Change can only be good right? So for me, the new year has inspired change, and I now just have to see it through, whatever it may be.