Call it a quarter-life crisis, a midlife crisis or just a longing to shake up your life, everyone knows the feeling from time to time of wanting to do something entirely different and maybe even life-changing. Unfortunately, too often, people eager for a change choose a destructive path. This can be the result of wanting something different so badly that you strike out without considering the consequences. Sometimes, this can even turn out positively in the long run, but it is usually better to make a considered move for the best results.
Content Compass
Consider Your Situation
There’s a guideline that says you shouldn’t make any drastic life changes in the first year after a divorce or a bereavement. Like all the suggestions in this article, there are exceptions, but in these situations, it can be a good idea to sit with your frustration and your need for change over time. When you are grieving and coping with loss, or dealing with some other major life change, you may misidentify the source of your unhappiness. You may find that over time, your need for the change dissipates.
Find Your Desire
It’s important when trying to enhance your wellbeing that you figure out exactly what it is that you want to do. You don’t want to paralyze yourself with anxiety at this stage by worrying about making the right decision, but it’s a good idea to use a mix of instinct and logic to decide what the next step should be. Tools such as journaling, mind mapping and making pros and cons lists can all help you explore and analyze your options. A good place to start is to look at your hobbies. What do you like doing, and can you pursue this into a viable career or just increase your enjoyment of your hobby? From venturing into making animated stores if you like drawing to purchasing a Drum Machine for Beginners if you want to explore your musical capabilities a bit more.
Change Your Story
If you still feel stuck, one thing you could consider doing is trying something that is essentially the opposite of what you would normally do. This can break you out of a narrow cycle of how you conceptualize yourself and what you are capable of. If you have always told yourself that you are not particularly athletic or physically capable, sign up and train for a 5K or a triathlon. If your story about yourself has always been that you can’t make money and you aren’t financially savvy, change that. Look into a low-key approach to investing.
You might think that investing in real estate is beyond your means and ability, but you can actually buy shares of a property and still earn rental income without worrying about ownership hassles. Look into pro forma, which helps you estimate the costs for acquisition, operation and disposal using various sources for the numbers, such as industry data or similar properties. You can use this information to help you decide if the property is a good risk.
Know Your Goal
It can be helpful to articulate your goal for several reasons. This can keep you focused on where you are going and choose the right approach to getting there. It also gives you something concrete to measure whether your method has been successful and to make adjustments if it is not. Maybe you want to see a certain profit from an investment, or perhaps you just want to learn more about the process. How you feel about the outcome of your life change will vary depending on what your goal is.