Everyone has bad days. But when your bad days become a signal that you’re in a rut, just “okay” and not thriving… it may be time for a life transformation. Andria has been through it! Her courageous decisions have led her to a much more fulfilling life. What about you? – InPower Editors
Through the process of my own personal and professional life reinvention over the past 7 years (yes, it’s a ongoing journey) and working with many clients on their own life transitions, I’ve learned many things about successfully transforming one’s life.
I tolerated things I knew weren’t good because they really weren’t “that bad.”
One of the things I learned (and wrote about in the book. Letting Go Of The Status Quo) is that a critical aspect of making life changes is recognizing when things are no longer okay as they are. Whether professionally or personally, we usually are not prompted to make a change unless we feel unsettled with the status quo. I was one of those people who was unsettled and unfulfilled with my life, both personally and professionally; however, it took me a long time to do anything about my unsettling feelings. Why? Because things were okay.
I tolerated things I knew weren’t good because they really weren’t “that bad.” In fact, looking in from the outside, you would have thought my life was pretty darn good. I had a great job with a large company and was steadily climbing the corporate ladder. I was in what was perceived as a good marriage, living in a beautiful home. I was healthy and safe and secure. I was okay. I allowed myself to be satisfied with being “okay” because it wasn’t “that bad”.
After all, why would I want to turn my life upside down when I was healthy and safe, in a great job, surrounded by lots of love? When I looked around and compared myself to others, to society, and to the awful things that were reported on the news, I knew I had a really great life. However, it was great as defined by others, not by me. Great to me meant a lot more than appearing great, it meant feeling great, being excited, feeling alive and not being in neutral. At that time, I was in neutral.
Getting out of neutral meant making some big changes and doing things that felt uncomfortable and scary. It meant letting go of the status quo and reinventing myself with essentially no blueprint. Eventually, it was a challenge and an opportunity I welcomed because I finally realized that life is supposed to be much more than “okay”.
No more “okay”
There were many steps I took to get beyond being “just okay” but the first and biggest step was to take control of the direction my life was headed. It was to put myself in the driver’s seat and take the wheel. If anything was going to be different in my life, if I was going to get beyond “okay”, I had to be steering the car. So much of my “okay” status came from being in the passenger’s seat and letting others take control of the direction my life was headed. Making the decision to move myself into the driver’s seat set the wheels in motion to make some big life changes and create my life the way I wanted it to be. No more “okay.”
What are you tolerating in your life today? Is it a job where you feel unsatisfied? Is it some aspect of your personal life that you feel a nudge to improve? Whatever it is, let go of being satisfied with things being “just okay.” Move into the driver’s seat and start to steer your life down the path you choose – down your path toward great. It is waiting for you, but you must let go of “okay” in order to step into great.
Take charge of your career development to get the job that supports your work and your life. Check out the tools and resources in the InPower Coaching Career Center.
