Make It Work

Most humans don’t like change. It’s not part of the fabric of how we’re made. Consistency holds within it a safety, an end goal, a purpose, a routine whereby we can find that illusive light at the end of our dank tunnel. We reach for it, it dims, we keep fighting to see it again. It’s the perseverance within that little bit of hope. We keep seeing it, working for it.

So, you work hard on the same path, your well-worn technological devices accumulating on your desk, your emails pinging in your ear reminding you that you’re almost there, and that you need to just keep going. There are days where you stare at your reflection in the computer screen and you feel stale and uninspired. And then you get to the end of that tunnel after years of clawing your way to the end, and that light? That magical promise? Well, it’s not as bright as you thought. Hmm. The tunnel starts to feel like the edge of a cliff and you’re about to take a flying fucking leap because you’ve officially. given. up.

Newsflash: That “end of the tunnel” bullshit? Yeah, that’s you basically relying on someone else for your own happiness. If that’s what you want, and you’re sure that that something amazing that was promised to you is definitely going to happen, well then that’s genuinely fantastic. But most of the time, no one knows. There is no job security anymore. Scary, yeah. Feels like the ground subtly shifts under your feet when you walk to work. We’re all figuring out how to hold onto something real and important in the work world.

But you know what you can rely on? Yourself. You’re really the only one that knows what you’re capable of, and what depths your brain can dive to, and it may not be sitting at the same grey desk for 30 years praying that you won’t go postal. It may not be filling out Briggs Myers tests and praying that you’ll be tagged for that promotion. And if that’s not what you want? Make your own light. Dig your own tunnel. Make it yours, whatever that means. Do you feel satisfaction in the job that you do, in the company that you work for? Fantastic. That means there’s room there for you to speak up. Ask questions. Innovate. Carry yourself like you own the place, and make that job the best thing you’ve ever done.

I’m not trying to sound like a cheerleader on caffeine, but if you believe in what you’re capable of, then you can either make a change and test your limits and fight The Fear, or you can walk into that office knowing that whoever hired you made the best damn decision of their career, and you’re about to deliver them some magic.