Photo by Kim Carpenter on Unsplash

Recently I had to come to grips with the direction that my life was taking, a lot had changed in a short amount of time and I was feeling irresolute towards everything. My personal as well as professional life was at a stand still and I was extremely confused as to why. I was following the rules, (at least I thought I was) yet everything felt repetitive, empty and non-progressive. I had made a promise to myself to take more days off from work but to be honest, I was just as excited to take off as I was to be at work.

One random Wednesday while typing the work day away I began thinking what my life would be like If I just up and quit. What would happen if I just marched right over to HR and yelled “I’m quitting”. I felt relief in my shoulders as I allowed myself to fully construct this thought, I had no idea what this meant, but Instead of pushing this thought out of my head, I embraced it, I allowed it to be the main thought in my head for a while, then I challenged it by asking it what was its purpose since there was no way I was really going to quit.

Sometimes in life we go through periods where it feels as if we are moving fast and heading nowhere and that was exactly how I felt. Have you ever seen a movie in which the same day keeps happening over and over again until the protagonist realizes his or her true purpose? I believe this actually happens to us (just not as aggressively) until we have realigned with our purpose. Once I had this thought I knew that it was time to revisit and evaluate my personal and professional goals.

With my new found clarity I decided to abruptly stop everything I was doing with hopes of changing the direction that my life was currently going. I decided to take some time off from work, I was unconcerned with how the time would be spent but I knew that I needed time to myself. A few days before my scheduled time off I reached out to an old friend who had invited me to visit Washington DC a few months back to gladly accept the offer (super late) even though I was nervous about the trip. All I knew was that I needed time away from my regular routine to evaluate the things that needed changing and this would be a great opportunity to do so. The long journey was relaxing and allowed me to deconstruct then assess my goals, I made a list entitled - Health/Personal/Professional in the back of a novel I had planned on reading, but once I started writing the issues that I was faced with (some may say ignoring) it became very clear the things that needed my attention. Wow I thought, obviously this random trip was already working its magic on me. Once I arrived in DC I navigated my way around and found my friend, after a long day of travelling I went to sleep thinking of all the decisions I needed to make in order to get my life back on track.

The next day I decided to just be a tourist and wander aimlessly around the city and visit a few museums. Once I was out doors I decided to just go wherever my feet lead me and man……. that was the best decision I had made all year! As I played cute tourist in the city I completely forgot all about my problems and by the end of the day I had visited 3 museums, a street fair, took countless photographs and engaged in deep conversations with strangers, to say I was tired afterwards would have been a huge understatement. At the end of the day I was very happy but before I knew it, it was time to head home. The difference in the journey back was significant, the irony about this trip was that I had figured out the answers to most my questions without even trying; once my brain had the opportunity to focus on fun and less on complex life questions it literally gave me most of the answers I needed. I realized that I wasn’t showing enough gratitude towards my job, which was a good job. I began thinking about my the direction that I wanted my career to take and HOW I had planned on getting there.

I traveled back home filled with inspiration and excitement as I gave myself the permission start over.

Have you broken out of your routine lately? Tell me about it in the comments below.