"Leaps of faith" in life

[SocraticGadfly]

This topic is sparked by a discussion with someone in the chat room last night.

Yes, I would love to leap out of the box(es) and into something new. The primary box I am thinking of is my current job in particular and career path in general. Part of what holds me back is fear and anxiety, I'm sure. Part is the flip side of that same coin, valuing security.

Part is, I don't know how. I say that not just on a "technical" side but a larger psychological side. I don't think I'm alone, there. People who aren't natural-born salespeople, entrepreneuers, etc., may just not have the same psychological skill set to make such leaps easily.

It's true we can all change our temperament. It's also true that tendencies toward certain behaviors, or higher levels of certain emotions, like anxiety, are inborn and genetic.

And, I don't think this person gets that. He's very much into secularized versions of the power of positive thinking. And, he does three different jobs/careers.

I say this not as copout, but just as where I'm coming from. And, I'd like to hear feedback!

[SocraticGadfly]

Very good... sounds like you have a plan

[SocraticGadfly]

Deb, good to hear from you. Haven't seen you in the chatroom in a few days. You speak exactly for me. Doing the next thing in front of us, and **talking to others** about being "scared, unsure and intimidated," or whatever we're facing.

I don't even have a journalism degree; I do, though, have an unused graduate divinity degree!

[SocraticGadfly]

Oh, I do blog, but that by itself wouldn't come close to paying the bills!

[Larry Williams]

I would say it's more of a self-reflection than a vacation for me. With the job market the way it is here in California you have to be creative. I've discovered a lot about myself in a quick couple of months and I know that there's more to find... I'm going with the flow right now and I'm willing to try some new things out regardless of security. I'm really considering going into counseling of some sort. There's something about being free of addiction that makes you want to share with others. That's what this site is all about. Also in your case I find that more and more people are blogging their stories or ideas... I have a feeling that is going to become the next level of journalism....

[SocraticGadfly]

Larry... I don't know if journalism, with its future, would count as a distressed-enough industry for retraining. I had thought about taking a long vacation early in my unemployment, and wish I had. Stay sober, my friend, and tell me more.

[Larry Williams]

I'm sorry, I know I joined this conversation late. I am currently unemployed. Now that my alcoholism has been removed I've enjoyed a freedom that I've not experienced before. This freedom has allowed me to look at several possibilities that I would have been afraid of before. Now that fear has become small compared to what was in my life before. I'm able to explore a new career path and fortunately I have support from my family and the government to do that. So I'm taking advantage of this grand life change and trying to apply it to another life change and pursue something that will make me happier and is more fulfilling.

[BartR]

"Ya come from nothin...ya go back to nothin...whatcha got to lose? Nothin!"
- Eric Idle (Brian of Nazareth)

(but I certainly understand the anxiety and stress)

[SocraticGadfly]

Right, Mike. I turned down one job offer I got after I moved here, because I wasn't settled down yet, and thought, boy, do I need another round of stress?

[SocraticGadfly]

Thanks, Rick... just going through another wave of emotions as part of stress, new job, relocation, bits of loneliness, and anxiety about the newspaper biz.

[Rick F.]

Some are introverts, others extroverts; some are skimmers and others are divers -- we all fall somewhere along a whole series of continua, the extremes of which tend to be named pathologies. I think it is OK to prefer doing one thing well to doing three things less well; if it isn't OK, then I am probably in more trouble than I thought. And such things as anxiety level, proneness to depression, risk aversion, and so on do indeed have a largely genetic basis -- as does, as it happens, ineptitude behind the wheel of a car.

Positive-thinking-wise, I believe there's a fairly major difference between finding your bliss and settling for what somebody else thinks your bliss ought to be.