Listen to the universe… it’s telling you something.

So we’re only a few weeks into 2015 and already there are new challenges before me.

I’ve been thinking about these so-called challenges over the past few weeks and decided it was time to write..

It was around this time last year (11 January 2014 to be exact), I blogged about the events of 2013 which saw my life take some interesting twists and turns. Funnily enough as I logged in this evening, I had another read of that blog post (What goes around, comes around), just to remind myself of the space I was in 12 months ago. Interesting reading indeed.

Looking back on the year that has transpired since that post, I’m now absolutely certain the universe is hard at work, pushing me closer to where I am supposed to be and this has given me a renewed sense of hope and optimism. My latest ‘challenges’ are all part of the plan.

So what are these ‘challenges’ you ask?  I’m now going to call them… lessons.

My first week back at work after a relaxed Christmas break with family and friends and I’m faced with the news that my full time job, in what I thought was the perfect place to be, has now been reduced to 2 days per week. My instant reaction? “So this is happening again…” As the discussion continued with my employer, I drifted off into another world, her words barely audible amongst my own internal dialogue. “What am I doing to attract this?” “How am I going to survive?” The conversation with myself went on until I found myself making arrangements to leave for the day, to collect my thoughts and potentially drown my sorrows.

Now I’m a fairly practical person and have become quite resilient over the years, but one needs time to process these things in order to get some perspective on a given situation, so I don’t beat myself up anymore if I fall into an emotional abyss for a while. It’s all part of the processing.

I’ll take a step back and fill you in on my employment history in the preceding 12 months. In short. Three newly created positions, in three small businesses, ending in a similar fashion… Prior to this, a position made redundant in a medium to large organisation after nearly 4 happy years there. Such is the journey of life.

So.. back to the processing. Here I am wallowing around in my own self pity and wondering what in the world I am doing wrong and becoming completely disillusioned with most things. Dropping deeper into the abyss while reading everyone’s happy new year posts on social media about how amazing the coming year was going to be.. blah, blah, fecking blah..and the processing went on. Until I had a little epiphany.

I happened to read a most interesting article on Inc. called Unexpected Lessons I’ve Learned Since Changing Careers (well worth a look if you haven’t already). A couple of lines really struck home to me in this particular article. One of them was “your purpose in life has very little to do with your job” and the other… “We must be willing to let go of the life we have planned so as to have the life that is waiting for us. We have to be courageous enough to let go of what no longer serves us in order to step into something new, and probably a lot bigger.”

It took a few days for this to actually sink in, but eventually it did. Once I got over the hurt, the anger and frustration of being inconvenienced once again, I started to actually see the lessons for what they were and could also see that every job has/had a purpose. I was starting to connect the dots again, as I have done for many years. The dots are turning points in your life, that represent a change in direction, an opportunity for something new, different (they’re not always positive by the way) and these dots are integral in our big picture. Our journey.

So as I venture into the anxiety of the unknown once again, I am not only more confident of my ability to survive (I’ve had plenty of practice!), but I am taking a deep breath and being courageous enough to let go of what is no longer serving me and looking forward to stepping into something new, something bigger. Something beautiful.

Today, I resigned from my 2 day per week job. I’m closing a door, for another to open. I’m creating new energy. I believe in me.

But feck it’s scary….