Uncoveries

Inspiring You to Uncover and Design a Meaningful Life

Building Your Community: Does It Reflect Where You Want To Go?

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This is the sixth article following The Irony of Quitting My Job to Take a Sabbatical, the first in a series on what I learned and what I’d recommend from quitting my job to take a six-month sabbatical (without another job in sight). Last week, I talked about the importance of letting go in order to move forward. Here, I share the power of community in your progress towards a meaningful goal.

“We are only human when we are part of a community.” 

– Orson Scott Card

You’re never as alone as you may feel.

I felt incredibly isolated as I contemplated the upcoming leap I wanted to make. At the time, most of the people in my network worked their full-time jobs, went home, and looked forward to weekends and vacations.

Don’t get me wrong—there’s nothing wrong with that. I mention this because when we view an upcoming Continue Reading

Letting Go: 5 Reasons Why We Don’t, Even When It’s For The Best

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This is the fifth article following The Irony of Quitting My Job to Take a Sabbatical, the first in a series on what I learned and what I’d recommend from quitting my job to take a six-month sabbatical (without another job in sight). Here, I share the reasons why we don’t let go and the importance of doing so in order to move forward.

“Some of us think holding on makes us strong, but sometimes it is letting go.” – Herman Hesse

Letting go can be scary.

There was a part of me that clung onto my job, despite how much I disliked it.

I know I wasn’t alone in this. Too many of us stick around in situations, labels or relationships that were maybe fitting at one point, but we’ve since outgrown.

Here are 5 reasons we don’t let go, even when it’s for the best.

Continue Reading

The Mindset You Need to Dance With Change

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This is the fourth article following The Irony of Quitting My Job to Take a Sabbatical, a series on what I learned and what I’d recommend from quitting my job to take a six-month sabbatical (without another job in sight). Here, I share what is really the first step to getting into leap-ready state—the mindset you need to dance with change.

I was unsure of how to move forward.

In reaching the tipping point, my mind kept turning on the how’s and the what’s to no avail. The many possibilities morphed into its own obstacle. I was overwhelmed and doubtful, not fully trusting I’d make the change I resolved to make.

Many people, myself included, start wondering about the tactics of a potential change without addressing what I now know to be a key part of making the leap.

It’s not about the tactics or the “how” at the beginning. Continue Reading

How I Reached The Tipping Point

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This is the third article following The Irony of Quitting My Job to Take a Sabbatical, the first in a series on what I learned and what I’d recommend from quitting my job to take a six-month sabbatical (without another job in sight). Here, I share how I reached the tipping point.

“Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.” – Barack Obama

It took me three years to reach the tipping point.

During those three years, I hid from the change I needed to make in my life. I continued on my stagnant path, until the milestone distractions against the angst drew to an end six months after we moved into our first house.

I started feeling an unshakable sense of doom. Nightmarish images of years passing by and weakening limbs bearing the resentment, regrets and what-ifs haunted my waking and dreaming thoughts. They came from the knowing within that if I didn’t make a change in the near future, it’d only get harder to leave and easier to find another reason to stay.

On the last day of 2013, a conversation with a newish friend was the spark that led to the tipping point in my life.Continue Reading

The 4 Ways We Hide From Change

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This is the second article following The Irony of Quitting My Job to Take a Sabbatical, a series on what I learned and what I’d recommend from quitting my job to take a six-month sabbatical without another job in sight. Here, I talk about the years leading up to the tipping point, and the ways I hid from the change I needed to make in my life.

“Without change, something sleeps inside of us, and seldom awakens. The sleeper must awaken.”

– Frank Herbert

Change is one of the few certainties in life, and yet many of us choose to reject this certainty, preferring known evils to the vast unknowns. I know this all too well. It’s much easier, safer and more convenient to succumb to the status quo—even when it’s no longer beneficial.

Leaving college, I thought I was on a great career track. The first three years, I did all the things I was supposed to do: worked long hours, volunteered for extracurricular resume-builders, attended company networking events, and got promoted.

The next three years before I quit, the track started heading downhill. And even though I knew corporate finance wasn’t for me, I tried my best to make the wrong thing work.Continue Reading