Long and Happy Life

Make a Change and Live Longer

Imagine being an employee working at a desk, assembly line, or job meeting. Look around you. 7 of every ten people around you aren’t engaged at all in their work. They have feelings ranging from ambivalence about what they do, to outright hatred. Maybe you are one of them.

Going Nowhere Fast

There’s nothing new to being miserable in your work. Many careers today are measured less in years of experience, but how many years you have THE SAME experience. For some, this is the difference between 20 years’ experience or one year repeated 20 times.

Another huge symptom of misery at work is when you have little control over the method or quality of your work. These workers suffer some of the highest levels of stress, high blood pressure and depression. Ideas for improvement or change are met various levels of rejection, and the grind goes on.

Worst of all, you take a look at where you are today, and think about how things will change a year from now. You find there is nothing to make you believe it will be anything different than what it is today. Same tasks, same results. No challenges, and nothing to look forward to.

Stuck in the Mud

What do you think the biggest challenge is to moving on? Having the right skill set? Probably not. When you break down your skills against the tasks another job has, there might be some subtle changes in HOW it’s done, but most things are the same. You may still use Microsoft Word, but you’re just working on a different document.

Maybe you feel too old to find a new job. You’re over 40, 50, or 60 and who hires them? Plenty! In fact, there are several careers that older applicants are preferable for. Not to mention the fact there are nighttime programs to earn a degree or new skills. You may even have transferable skills to a better position with a new employer.

What we’re really afraid of is change. Most of us have one income, and the consequences of losing it are tough to imagine. Insurance, high housing costs, childcare, and other pressures sow the seeds of doubt. Worse yet, many dead-end jobs stop with cost-of-living raises and you start to find a narrowing gap between income and expenses. Before long you can’t even fathom making a switch without being fired or laid off.

Guided by Your Light

All these doubts and fears are not impossible to overcome. You have more experience and skills in more transferable areas than you may be giving yourself credit for. You also have interests in jobs and activities that would not only make you happy, but earn you some income too. The great challenge is finding a way to look inside yourself, objectively, and see what more you are capable of.

Do you remember when you were a kid and thought that being a firefighter would be just the coolest thing? Maybe you played at being a cook, or even an astronaut. I played at being a bus driver. Surely some of those jobs don’t pay well enough or aren’t achievable due to the education required, but there was something about those that compelled you.

Is there a hobby or activity you’ve always wanted to try? A skill you thought would be very interesting to learn or practice? Maybe you think you could work with wood, or learn a new language.

Could it be that some of the things that would bring excitement and challenge to your life can propel you into a new career? Maybe even give you some purpose outside of your dead-end-job so much so that the grind of your workday isn’t so much of a burden because when you get home, your new exciting projects await?

Take Our Retreat

This is how the Personal Retreat can help you find those areas within yourself that are just waiting to be discovered. We guide you through an exploration of yourself, to find out what you love about what you do, and what you could love about something new. Maybe we help you find a new job, a new career, or a new hobby. Through small, positive steps forward, you’ll learn what works and what doesn’t, so you can start to develop a plan. You may just realize a happier and healthier life for many years to come.

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