Don’t panic Mr Mainwairing; don’t panic!
All feels a little bit crazy at the moment doesn’t it?
The threat of many police officers resigning to join the all too many leaving or due to leave shortly
Will there be room for you?
Will there be success and safety in your future?
The answer is – you decide.
You can move into panic mode and feel defeated before you begin, or even when you have tried a bit and have not found things easy. However, you do need to find the resilience not to be beaten at the first, or even forth, hurdle if you are not to be your own worst enemy.
Yes, things are tough. But in reality getting a good, satisfying and decently paid position has always been challenging. Starting your own company has always been scary, rewarding yes, but sleepless nights are often the price of creating your own world. Whether that is because your brain is too busy to sleep (exciting) or you make yourself anxious with concerns of whether you can pull this off (annoying).
When we allow ourselves to become overly anxious we stop our creative side and then we are more likely to miss opportunities, to take longer to problem solve and generally get in our own way.
So as you consider looking for that new position or that company idea take all the emotion out of the debate. Emotions are great, they make us human but sometimes they can tend to run the show and lead us to believing falsehoods. More importantly the anxiety when not properly checked seeps out; others experience us as anxious and stressful. And no one really enjoys being around overly anxious people do they? It can almost feel viral – I really need to get away from this person will be the usual self-preservation route.
Let me take you to that place most of us have been; 3am. You have been asleep for a few hours when suddenly you are awake and you start to think (big mistake). Whatever 3am demons come along they always are bigger and scarier than anything the daytime brings – I am a complete failure, I will never get another job, never get my business going, something might happen to my loved ones. The list of what we can imagine never ending.
Eventually you fall back to sleep and on waking at a normal time you are almost shocked that the thoughts of the night time were so extreme. You come back to reality; yes this is a challenge but I have met challenges before and come through well. So what can I do differently? What can I learn or understand to help me. And on you go with your day as, well, a normal human being.
The 3am terrors are pretty much what happens when we allow out anxiety to get a grip of us. We often catastrophise, we panic and grasp at any hope and then are hurt when what in reality is a tentative possibility fails to materialise. This is the moment to get rid of the emotions and look at the situation pragmatically. It is an absolute truth that the majority of what we fear rarely happens, and this being so, give yourself some time off and become wholly pragmatic.
This is the situation;
• What can I do about it?
• Who might be able to help me?
• What might help me?
• Do I actually understand what the problem is? – things like being turned down for a similar job time and again when you know you are qualified falls into this category
• Am I really clear on how I am coming across (both in writing and in person) – get some unbiased comments here, your partner or mother will invariably feel obliged (or so in love) to offer soothing words of comfort when you need to hear an honest appraisal
• Am I pursuing what I might actually have a feel for or just playing safe going for the same as others (this is where we invariably find a flooded market and good company)
• I have an idea for a company – check this out to see if it is viable
• I have no idea for a company – get some support you need to drill down to what you enjoy and are good at and speak to someone in the business world as to how that might fit. There are many fortunes made on the strangest of things, not everything needs to be about security!
Above all keep do not panic; this is a change in your life and not the end of your life. Yes, you will need to take a deep breath and push that boundary and perhaps yourself further than you think you can go right now but will be all the better for it I promise.
As ever; you know where we are. Just get in touch.
