Throwing yourself out of a comfort zone you've nuzzled into for at least 10 years can be exuberating. It can also feel like a buggy pulling a horse, ass backwards I think they call it.
I have a terrific job, one where I am advancing, although I'm not quite sure advancement is what I want. I like comfort and contentness and I love being compassionate with people. On the other hand, I do not like politics and I am not a fan of promoting what I do.
I am a Social Work Counselor in an Emergency Room in a very large hospital. I love working with the patients, no matter how "difficult" they are. What I've come to learn is generally it is not the patients who are difficult, it's the staff who aren't quite sure how to figure out the puzzle and have their own idea of how the patient should be living their life. I'm not sure they would like the reverse to happen to them.
I work with quite a few patients with "psychiatric disorders." Please don't get me wrong in this sense, I am an advocate for treatment of mental health, however, I think it's being a little overused. Furthermore, it seems though we use a bandaid approach; wait until there is a crisis and then we'll figure it out. This crisis can put a lot of stress on someone and is so much more difficult to manage from a mental health perspective. If we begin to care more about prevention, hopefully we can prevent some of those crises.
This is where this blog becomes about me. The reason I have titled it "Be Still. Move Forward" is because I have decided, along with my wonderful fiance David, to take the plunge and move from Houston to Seattle on September 15th, 2012. We do not have jobs lined up. We have friends there. We know we love the city. I am 38 and he is almost 39. We do not have children. We've decided if we're going to do this, we are almost at the point where it is our last chance to jump. Jump away from decent paying/satisfying jobs. We've talked about worst case scenarios to comfort us and this discussion can become quite amusing His focus is on the lowest paying job that he is willing to take. My worst case scenario is I'll have to live on the streets and sell myself for our next meal. We can tell who's the dramatic one in this relationship, no?
So, the "be still" portion reminds me to remain calm during this journey. The "move forward" reminds me to not get stuck in a rut and follow my dreams. In the end, I can say we did it. If the outcome is not so good (I'm selling myself) then we'll figure out a way to make that okay. If the outcome is good (all I really care about is getting a job we enjoy and liking the city) then we know it was possible. Looking at it this way makes me think....there really isn't a way to lose on this one.
