What To Do If You’re Thinking ‘Is This As Good As It Gets?’

Are you at a stage in your life where you wonder “is this as good as it gets?” You have a good job, you’re certainly not loving it but it does pay the bills…

Other people seem to think you have it good. You have friends, an active social life, maybe a partner. You’ve seen some of the world. You’ve done the things you thought you wanted to do since you entered the workforce but somehow something’s not quite right…

Well, I’m here to tell you today – LISTEN TO THAT NAGGING FEELING!

Sorry for shouting, I feel really passionately about this!

There is an overwhelming pressure to settle, to be happy with what you have, to not want more or to not take ‘unnecessary’ risks. To be satisfied that you have a job at all in this economy.

People worry for you and don’t want you to lose what you have. Maybe you are also afraid to lose what you’ve worked hard for if you try for something new.

I’ve experienced this first hand when I was living in Germany. I had a good job, a nice place, friends, great social life, money to travel but I was bored and frustrated at work. I tried to make it interesting but it wasn’t working.

Every now and then I’d have a spurt of enthusiasm but it wouldn’t last long and soon I’d find myself surfing on Facebook again waiting for “Feierabend”, which is German for home time.

So how do you transition from ‘Is this as good as it gets?’ to ‘This is awesome!’?

First up, don’t suppress this feeling, because it’s likely not going away

I felt this way for years before I really took the bull by the horns and did something about it. The best way to deal with it is to listen and try to find out where it’s coming from.

What part of you is fighting to get out and express itself? Look at what is making you feel frustrated and like you want something new. For me it was my creativity and my need for more freedom. What is it for you?

Think, test and explore

Once you know what part of you isn’t happy, think about how you can create space for it in your life. What forms can it take? Is it definitely related to your work or is it outside of work? What can you do to experience more of what you are lacking?

Try out your ideas and see how you feel. I tried to create more freedom by becoming a freelancer. I brought more creativity into my life with interesting projects. By trying it out I discovered that for me I had to actually get rid of the work I was doing and find something completely different. The only way to fix the nagging feeling of wanting more was to work for myself doing something I felt passionate about that allowed me to be creative, be free and also use my logical side.

What could it be for you?

Really put a lot of thought into it. Explore, explore, explore. Read blog posts, go out into the world and try things, see what other people are doing. You’ll only find out how to fix the nagging feeling by doing something about it.

Whatever you do don’t ignore it!

Find out what really appeals to you and go for it!

We hear it all the time – you only live once.

Here’s a quote from Les Brown that really hammers it home.

“The graveyard is the richest place on earth, because it is here that you will find all the hopes and dreams that were never fulfilled, the books that were never written, the songs that were never sung, the inventions that were never shared, the cures that were never discovered, all because someone was too afraid to take that first step, keep with the problem, or determined to carry our their dream.”

So if you are thinking about settling, think again. Find out what piece of genius is trying to get out :-)