A couple weeks ago I got together with family I hadn’t seen in a long time. If you’ve been in my shoes, you know how it goes. There’s plenty of awkward “So, how’s work?” surface-level conversation because, well, you aren’t sure what else to talk about. Hopefully someone has had a baby or brings their dog so everyone has something to look at and talk about, otherwise, 30 minutes in, you’ve run through all the standard small-talk topics.
Luckily there was a baby, and a dog, but it didn’t prevent us from going around the table to share what we do for a living.
As we went around, I noticed a pattern. A pattern of “it’s just a job”. A pattern of “it is what it is”. A pattern of feeling stuck.
And so began the conversation of why jobs suck and how retirement can’t come soon enough.
Odds are, you’ve been there. Sitting around the table with family. Grabbing a happy hour with coworkers. Complaining about work. Hoping, wishing, longing for something bigger and better. A promotion. A way out. An escape from “stuck”.
There’s you, and the circumstance you find yourself in. With a bad job. In a bad relationship. Stuck in a rut.
You think you’re stuck with no way out (it’s incredibly easy to feel this way). Too many obligations prevent you from taking the leap. Uncertainty. Mounting debt. Change. Fear. Comfort that you’re not willing to (potentially) give up.
I’m guilty of this. Of wanting more. Of demanding more. But never, ever, accepting that I’m stuck with no way out.
- You’re not stuck in the job you hate. There is something better.
- You’re not stuck in a relationship with someone that drives you nuts. There is someone better.
- You’re not stuck with a mortgage. You can sell your house.
- You’re not stuck sitting out the couch eating Oreos. You can start working out.
- You’re not stuck with your faith. You can find something to believe in.
No matter how old or how young. How rich or how poor. How experienced or uneducated. You’re not stuck, unless you are. Unless you believe it, and let that little voice inside your head tell you that you can’t do any better. You can and you will. All you have to do is make the choice to get unstuck.