Thinking about all the people who want to transition out of their jobs right now and what they're experiencing, what that process is like.
If that's you, this piece is for you.
For background, I was a tenured psychology professor and department chair before I left in 2020. I was fortunate to see where higher education was going in 2016. So I strategized about how to get out. Since then, I've had a variety of contracts and jobs over the past four years. Check out my LinkedIn profile for more details.
The point of this article is to discuss the common misconception many people have when considering a job transition.
They often believe they'll feel a certain way if they transition—like if they're not in their current job anymore, they won't have to feel a particular negative emotion.
They think they'll escape misery or gain more certainty.
For example, in higher education right now, there's a lot of uncertainty. It's easy to feel uncertain.
(Let's be real; it might just be easy to feel uncertain in the world in 2024.)
I see people trying to find something external, the next job that will create certainty.
But I sit before you as a woman on the last day of a large contract, and I've got this extensive background in a variety of career paths. Maybe I've done some of the things that you think will make a difference in your life.
I'm still a human being who has to deal with the feelings of uncertainty, even after multiple job transitions. Even after having a “job for life” with tenure.
Learning the process of actually sitting with my emotion, coping with it, creating containers for it, feeling it through my body instead of trying to write it out or journal it out—that has been the most important work I've done in the past five years.
Wherever I go, whatever job I have, if I can sit with uncertainty, it makes everything else easier.
Now, we all have different tolerance thresholds for that. Changing external circumstances can indeed make a big difference in our lives.
(I was not going to make it through another faculty meeting; I needed to get out of there. After I had sat and coped with it, made peace with it, and loved my job before I left, I still needed to leave. That may be happening for you too.)
If you're dreaming of a life on the other side where you don't have human emotions that you're avoiding, I'm here to say those emotions will still be there.
So, cope with those emotions first. It’s easier when you’re getting paid.
Let's work with those emotions rather than fight them or try to outrun them.
Both positive and negative emotions are still going to exist on the other side of your job transition, I promise you that.
Cheering you on wherever you are in the job journey.
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