The Itch for Change

by Alexandra Smith in ,

Transition is hard. So is settling in. It feels like when we're at home, we long for shift. And when all is fresh and new, we long for finding home. A few of my clients lately have been struggling with feeling like they're in a place that isn't their "it." Others are struggling to find a job that is "it" while kind of hating or really hating their current work.

The truth is that we'll always be in transition in one way or another (because isn't the beauty of life that it's not static). At the same time, we may have the right work settle in at some point. Or we might find our "aha" city that just feels right.

When you're in a transitional "I want change now" sort of space, try to see this "not it" spot as a lab. How can you try on different roles in your town before you settle down into what may actually feel like that ultimate home? How can you create little projects at work that let you test out what you might want to do full on some day? There is a beauty in the transition. It is that in some sense, we're not fully committed to a job or a place and so we're not obsessed about showing up perfectly within it. Because of this, transition is the perfect place for play. For trying on. For testing out. So go ahead, and love that in-between feeling up by getting clear on a few tangible ways you can play in it. Let your life here now be your lab.

On Pausing

by Alexandra Smith in

Sometimes I get so fiercely attached to things I want to make happen that I fall completely out of balance. I network, create, build, write, and then a few weeks later, I realize I'm burned out. As a yoga teacher, coach, and lover of the good life, I used to think that balance was the key to survival. That somehow we always had to rest on the fine line between intensity and ease. And we do. We really do. But I think the reality is that this balance comes at a large scale level.

If we really want to pursue what we love, we have to fall into periods of imbalance. Of full on, work hard, dig in, even sometimes sleep less, sort of commitment. And then, when we're burned out, we need to balance out by taking a pause. I'm recognizing that I've been going hard. So hard that I haven't even had time to update this blog. So now it's time for a pause. A few days off to recover. Luckily we have a trip on tap to snorkel with some sea turtles next week.

Take a moment. Look at where you are between ease and intensity. Do you need a rest? Or do you need to push a little harder to create what you're longing for?