The Mystery of Change

There are moments in life when it’s easy to discern the need to make significant changes in job or relationships. Other times, change is foisted upon us.

I’ve been thinking about change a lot as time comes closer to my the publication of Unwrapping, my debut novel. It struck me that despite my lifelong love of writing—and two previous novels, neither of which has been published—it took a series of seemingly disconnected events to push me toward calling myself an author.

In my case, the origin of change lay in two consecutive difficult work situations.

I was fired as senior editor of the Winston-Salem Journal in January 2011, a victim of both a personality clash with the new managing editor and the great shrinkage of newsrooms nationwide. At the time, I’d finished both of my books and was looking toward figuring out the publication process. But I needed a job and I knew two things: it wouldn’t be in journalism, and I wanted to stay in Winston-Salem. Trying to sell the novels took a back seat.

Three months later, I began work at what is now Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist in communications and marketing. There, another combination of factors struck. I had to immerse myself in a different style of work and I also began to do freelance writing and editing, as the full-time job paid significantly less than my management job at the Journal. The novels stayed in the back seat.

Over time, I recognized I needed to get away from a second consecutive toxic boss, which is what pointed me toward a new career as a clinical mental health counselor. Once I started working—brain filled with knowledge, especially about trauma—I started writing fiction again. And now I’m in the homestretch toward publication of what is actually my third completed book.

So, tying back to the opening: How do you know when it’s time to change?

There are times that change is instinctual; you just have an overwhelming desire that it’s time.

I believe, however, there are clues to when it is time to seek change. A lot of it has to do with the same factors I wrote about in my holiday season anxiety blog. Your body tells you when you have the kind of anxiety that might be indicative of the need to consider change.

Pay attention to physical symptoms such as constant rumbling in your gut or tightening in your chest, or your head feeling like it wants to explode, or ruminating so much that you can’t get to sleep at night.

Pay attention to what your friends or family are saying. Is your partner becoming annoyed because you’re not hearing them? Do people look concerned and ask, “Are you OK?”

For me, in early 2016 a combination of the concepts mentioned in the previous two paragraphs propelled me toward transformative career change, including now, the ability to be a published author.

There may be some luck involved in the latter, but paying attention to how you feel and how others are treating you can help remove the mystery about questions of change.

I’ll be sharing others’ stories about change in their lives at times in the weeks to come.