If you’ve been following along here for the last few months, you know I’ve been in the thick of full-time job searching. Three straight months, almost to the day, of applications, interviews, rejections, ghosts, projects, panels, decisions, and follow-up emails. It is, in summary, a lot. Anybody who ever makes light of looking for a new job truly deserves a punch in the mouth, and I am not a violent kind of person.
Anyway, it is with great personal fanfare that I’m able to share the news that I’ve accepted a position, and I’ll be starting in January!
I’m thrilled – it’s a fantastic match for my background, my strengths, my passions, and my vision for my future path.
And, I’m terrified – it’s new, it’s a lot to learn, it’s structured, my whole life will look different, there’s so much unknown.
But those polarities can coexist, are coexisting. In fact, I feel like they’re the two most common ones that do – fear and excitement. As such, they can be managed. I know how to feel into the excitement to temper the fear. I know how to recognize my worry and meet it with trust and confidence. I know how to let go of future outcomes to stay present and take it day by day.
This is a major life transition for me, and truly, it’s taking everything in me, everything I have learned and developed and coached others through in the past decade – to approach it in a (mostly) grounded way. I’m not sure I ever thought I’d be utilizing all my knowledge in this way, applied to myself so acutely, but wow I’m grateful to have continually cultivated my skills and personal development and growth. Will it still be rocky? Good gracious, yes. I’m under no illusion the first few months will be breezy. But will it be…OK? Yes, it will.
I say all this to 1) seriously celebrate what I consider to be a great accomplishment for myself, and 2) remind you that you also have way more tools than you think for navigating life transitions – big or small – at your disposal.
You just have to push past the intensity of the polar feelings and put those powers into practice.
Even if you’re not really in any kind of transition or celebration phase right now, I think there’s still a kernel here for you. The end of the year often brings up a lot of emotions. Specifically this year – again and still, we’re dealing with a world in turmoil, another fucking surge of COVID, political BS, real effects of climate change, ten thousand other acute and global things. Plus, families can still be challenging, work can still be an asshole, the world can still tell us we need to be all new starting in two weeks, and frankly, it’s dark, and depression can call to us so easily. Point being: maybe you’re not feeling particularly polar emotions, maybe you’re actually stuck or continually leaning in one way – a way that feels more negative or distressing or uncomfortable than you might like.
If that’s the case, here’s the invitation: meet what you’re feeling with even the smallest dose of something that pulls you in the opposite direction, slightly more toward center.
Use polarities as a tool. If you need a little help to identify what this might look like, here’s one of my favorite ways to do it, here’s another. Take it in increments, take it on a sliding scale, but take a step.
Just like a magnet, our polarities ultimately bring us together and make us better – internally and in connection with one another.
I’ll freely admit there’s a lot to be worried about right now, and I am the Queen of Worrying Too Much. But there’s likely something to celebrate too, and I hope you’ll go ahead and find that center space as much as possible.
Put your polar powers into practice, watch what happens.
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