subject: Overcoming Career Change Obstacles [print this page] It is possible that at one point or another during the pursuit of your new career goals, you will experience some form of stress and possibly some type of illness.
When I talk about illness, I'm not referring to catastrophic or life-threatening illnesses, as there is only one thing you need to do-put everything on hold and do whatever you can do to get better.
The types of illness I am referring to here are the more common or garden varieties of illness such as a bad cold or a full-blown flu.
Although it may sound a bit trivial, it really is important to spend some time thinking about how you handle stress and illness. The reason this is important is because some people handle stress and illness very well, while others not so well.
All too often things like stress, a cold, or spending a week in bed sick with something can cause a person to stop pursuing their career goals, even after they have recovered. This has a lot to do with just falling out of the routine of things.
There are also a lot of negative feelings that go along with feeling stressed or sick. Sometimes those negative feelings can roll over into other areas of your life. You might start to feel down about the fact that you have not been able to work on your career plan during your illness or you experience feelings of guilt. You also might even blame the stress or illness on the time you have been spending on your new career plan and start to resent it and avoid it altogether.
The thing is, stress and illness are part of normal life whether you are working on a new career plan or not. So take the time to tell yourself from the very beginning that there may be days when you are not feeling up to par. Give yourself permission to take a few days off during those times and don't be so hard on yourself or go on any guilt trips-that's certainly not the journey we want be on!
One thing that works for me is to grant myself a certain number of 'down time' days each month. Some of them are planned, some just happen. It's not just me that may get sick, one of my children may get sent home from school with one of those 'run of the mill' things like a tummy bug, the flu etc. Because I have factored in those days, it doesn't stress me out so much when it happens. I allow myself the same number of days each month. If I don't use them, then I roll them over into the next month and add them to the new days for that month, allowing them to add up. Whenever something comes up where I feel I need to take some time off for myself, I do it.
You may say to yourself "Well that's okay for you, you are a self-employed writer" and you'd be right. This is just what works for me. You need to work out what would work for you.
It is very important to take care of yourself. And taking a break now and then can do your mind and body wonders. Just make sure it's not too long of a break and that you return to your plan and pick up where you left off. Not only will taking time off help you to rejuvenate, it can be used as a tool to help ensure success in your endeavors.
