Do you settle for second best?

I used to be a settler!

I used to feel like life was passing me by.

I used to think “ok today was crap, tomorrow will be better” or “next week  will be better”

On the 1st of January I used to think “next year will be better”

I spent most of my 30’s thinking “next year will be better”

I spend the first few years of my 40’s thinking the same…

Don’t get me wrong, I was happy much of the time, or I certainly thought I was… I had a nice house, nice car, loving family.

I was very lucky and thankful for my life, it was a life I’d worked hard to have.  BUT… something was missing and I had no idea what.

THEN everything caught up with me…

For too long I had been living on stress and adrenalin, not eating properly, not sleeping well, taking work home all of the time. Saying “no problem” everytime my boss asked if I could do something else. I was a sponge for other peoples stress.

My managers would come to me with their issues and being a natural problem solver I did everything I could to solve their problems for them. They would leave my desk smiling and telling me they felt better but I was slowly drowning.

Thankfully I eventually fell apart. I say thankfully because my life is sooooooooooo much better, I learned so much and not only am I enjoying my love and generally more at peace with myself (most of the time) but I’m a nicer person and better, less shouty Mum now that I’m not stressed… well not very often anyway :)

I wish I could have changed my life without falling apart but I was convinced I just needed to “get through” whatever was the challenge of the day / week / month

What I want to tell people now is DO NOT SETTLE, life is precious and it’s short and you get one shot at it. You don’t even need to do anything drastic like leave your job like I did.

My ego wouldn’t let me ask for help, don’t let ego stop you from accepting or asking or looking for support.

The thing that stopped me from taking action for a long time was not knowing what the end outcome would me.  If you feel like life is passing you by please don’t wait until you know what you want.