Thursday, July 26, 2012

Inspiration: pass it on!

Inspiration comes in many forms: a landscape, a photograph, a poem, a book, a smile, a notion, a feeling, a hunch, little things, big things, ideas, thoughts, pretty much anything. It also comes in the form of people. And when you connect two people in the right space at the right time good things happen. Big things happen.

I've been struggling with the work/life balance since I returned from Spain. While on one hand I was super thrilled to have a job when I returned, I was also put into a new position right away. As mentioned before, I went from low person in the business to pretty important fairly quickly and before I could get used to one thing, I was promoted into a different role. One thing is for certain, not a day has gone by where I'm bored or looking for something to do. You want a new event planner? No problem! I'll try it out and see if it works.

And I was able to make immediate changes. And I got to clean up several messes. Some big, some small but messes all the same. I went from working roughly 20 hours a week to 40+. Gray hairs popped up with great frequency. I have a permanent knot in my right shoulder. And while I know I'm doing a great job and accomplishing a lot, I also recognize this isn't a sustainable pace. Or at least, not for me.

So today, after thinking about it over the weekend and during the week, I decided to take another leap. I decided to tell them it wasn't working for me and that while I enjoyed working with them, I don't think this is the right fit. I was prepared and ready to walk. Never did I see the counter offer coming. I got a call within the hour.

What would you do? Do you stay with the stressful but comfortable feeling of having a steady pay check? Or do you take the leap, pull yourself away from suckling on the bottle and go for it? That book I've been talking about isn't going to write itself. Those dreams I have won't become reality unless I start doing the footwork toward them. And as scary as that leap can feel, to step outside of your comfort zone, it's necessary for growth and the ultimate reward.

So if you see someone perched in limbo, straddling the fence between just doing it or staying in the same old routine, promise me that you'll tell them to go for it. Promise me that you'll go for it. Promise yourself to pursue it with gusto. Life is too long to not being doing exactly what you love. 


1 comment:

Paul said...

Jennifer, go for it!
You want to do this,
Many others may NEED you to do this.
And,
1) when you finish writing it, get professional help promoting it (I'm a big supporter of hiring professional coaches and consultants to help you reach your full potential!)
2) you can write the book and have a great job and still train. It will stretch you; but, there are 24 hours in a day, and if you can't get your writing done during the day, you can always write at night...