Moving on

After over a year, I’m leaving the safe nest of my agency copywriting job and taking on the challenge of a big new job with a title that makes me smile: Media and Communications Specialist. Although I have something amazing lined up, and I’m delighted by the opportunity, moving on is still scary. Especially since the team I’m leaving is so great.

I find myself asking the inevitable transition question: Will I be as happy there as I am here? When I realize that I don’t know concretely, the nerves kick in.

It’s easy to freak out at the mere thought of change, because change really means “stepping into the unknown”, and as humans, we are fundamentally uneasy about the unfamiliar.

However, there is a difference between good scary and bad scary.

Bad scary is turbulence on a plane, or falling down a well.

Good scary is starting a new relationship, or starting a new job.

I guess there’s also funny scary, like when a drunk homeless guy yelled and whipped a sandwich at my girlfriend Steph’s head the other day, but I’m getting off track (as usual.)

Anyway, my point is that starting a new job is scary. There are so many things to be learned, new co-workers to figure out, a new office to navigate, etc… It’s nerve-wracking, but it opens up a multitude of really positive possibilities as well.

So, this is clearly good-scary stuff. But dealing with it still requires some tricky emotional navigation, especially since I tend to deal with major life changes in one of two ways:

1. Freak out to the point where I become paralyzed and can’t do anything
2. Step it up and deal with the situation

While this is the beginning of another chapter in my life, it’s all the same book: I know the relevant life experiences – and people – that I’ve come to appreciate in this job will stay with me long after I’ve left this place. It is with that knowledge that I excitedly walk forward, eager to turn the page and see what comes next.