Change is hard, or so they say. I believe if you look at change as being hard, then it will be. Difficulty in many life situations, I have found, creates self-fulfilling prophecies that present personal growths greatest barriers.
Change is hard, except when it's not.
Change comes when there is acceptance. You accept that if you don't change, you will die. This is a smokers kind of necessity. You accept that you are living a caged life, and you don't know how to escape. You're trapped in a job or a situation, and it's just not tenable. Most of the people I work with in my practice are living a comfortable life. They have the potential to be genuinely great, but they are fearful for the loss in lifestyle, or scared of the process, or afraid that all their work towards change will end up with nothing to show. This is where I was for years.
For a long time, I had decided to strive for balance in my life, above all else. I had worked hard, often traveled for work around the world, and missed out on a lot of my children's accomplishments. I had the opportunity to take a position where I was an individual contributor with no direct reports. I would get a balance at the expense of long term career development. It was great until it wasn't.
What I did and what I loved.
I was an engineer. I identified deeply with technology and specifically, semiconductor physics. I was, at one time, on a path for a Ph.D. and a position as Associate Professor at RIT. Life got in the way of those dreams. I received satisfying levels of fulfillment contributing to an industry that has promulgated tremendous standards of productivity, entertainment, health, and wellness; you pick the area of life that hasn't been deeply impacted by the miracle of the microchip.
Catch me geeking out to what I did here.
What I do and what I love.
Besides the tech and projects and travel and quality of life that my 35-year career provided me, I found deep fulfillment in helping others to develop. I sought volunteer activities to self-actualize in this dimension when my work didn't. My enjoyment of the job started to atrophy. I was too COMFORTABLE to move; until I was forced to face the fact that I was quite unhappy. In transition, I tried to resurrect that tech career through consulting, but embodied in my own High-Performance coaches service to me was the genesis of the revelation of what I was to do. What I transitioned to is perfectly aligned to what I Love. Love being the focused efforts to grow spiritually. Directed at yourself, this becomes self-love. A commitment to personal growth and development, ad infinitum, is my purpose; it's everyone's purpose. I'm now a High-performance coach, and this is the type of thing I do now. Here is me, more recently.
The transition is ongoing. There were many fears to overcome. There still are. I've never worked harder, and I've seldom been as consistently happy in my vocation. I am convinced beyond all doubt, that this kind of change and perpetual growth that I aspire to is possible for everyone. And, it’s our fundamental duty.
