Adapting to Periods of Change
There comes a time in everyone’s life where stability feels hard to come by, and a certain dynamic that was once thought to be ‘comfortable’ begins to shift. About 6 months ago, I came to the realization that for the first time in the past 18 years I would not be attending school next fall. Now this probably doesn’t sound like a problem to most people and you might be wondering why this realization took me by surprise, but I struggled with the thought of ‘having no purpose or direction’. Like most people with high expectations for themselves, this is not an easy realization to come to terms with.
The hardest thing for me was to constantly remind myself not to compare my life with the lives people my age portray through social media. This seems to be something many people struggle with, and I don’t blame them. The pressure to be perfect and to do things right the first time is real, and quite truthfully I think it’s unfair. There is no such thing as ‘perfect’ and anybody who seems like they have their life figured out is probably just a damn good actor. Despite these facts, I regularly questioned why my friends and the people around me seem to be making big moves in life towards their careers, or finding fulfillment while travelling around the world, or just simply falling in love with life – meanwhile I truthfully haven’t figured out my passion.
Prior to this reality setting in, I lost interest in a lot of the things I once enjoyed. Rather than getting up and doing something about countless insecurities I sat around wondering when my time would come, or when things would start to shift in my favour. This was quickly deemed to be an unrealistic way to live, and only made matters worse.
It all began to hit me at once that this is going to be one of the biggest periods of change in my life. Some people will be chasing their dream career or starting families these next couple years, others, like myself, may still be working on themselves. Everyone’s ‘period of change’ happens at different points in life – and for the few people that have found their dream job whether it’s immediately after finishing school, or starting the business they worked so hard for, their period of change may have happened already or it might be just around the corner.
I guess my point is to be patient with yourself because these times of discomfort are only an indicator of change. Bigger and better things are coming, and the fact that you’re experiencing this discomfort means that you’re not settling for mediocre. So yay for you if you’re one of those people struggling to figure out your next game move. And kudos to the people who made it through periods of change.