When One Door Closes …

How many times has something happened in your life when you thought it was an end only to find later it was a new beginning? When a door slammed in your face that you weren’t expecting, did you later find a bigger, better door somewhere else?

Perhaps you were fired or laid off from a job you hated but it paid the bills. But, your new job paid more and you even liked it. Or your favorite grocery store closed down and you had to find a different place to shop. But the new one you found had cheaper prices and a better selection. If we can’t see around the closed door, we will never notice a different entrance.

Sometimes events happen, things occur beyond our control and it seems like the world is caving in. It feels like we are staring at a closed door, or a brick wall, willing it to open for us. These are the moments when we are at crossroads in our lives. And change makes all the difference.

If change hadn’t been forced upon you, would you have found a better job? Or gone shopping at a different store? Or would you have settled for what you were used to because you were comfortable with it? Without realizing it, we may be sabotaging our own growth by fearing change.

No matter how much we try to avoid it, change is inevitable. But few of us look for it or embrace it. In fact, we are so busy rushing through our lives we don’t make time to see if change is beneficial.

That’s how we get stuck in jobs we hate. Rather than face the daunting prospect of job searching, anxiety-filled interviews, losing touch with favorite co-workers and meeting new ones, we avoid change and plod along from day to day putting in our hours like robots.

When there is no more joy and passion in our lives, it’s time to take stock and decide what changes need to happen. Where did the happy days go? What is killing the passion we once had?

Our passion is our soul. It is influenced by the hours and events of our lives and the people who fill them. If we are surrounded by people, places, and events that do not align with our passion, we can start to feel smothered or stifled.

If it happens slowly over time, it isn’t noticeable. Then suddenly one day you wake up and realize that you aren’t living a happy life anymore. Or, life steps in and forces change upon you because you were too late in noticing that it was necessary.

Instead of fearing change, embrace it. Rather than pounding on the closed door, look for another opening. I guarantee there’s one there. It’s just waiting to be found.

Make change your friend. Sure, it’s scary. Sometimes change makes us fall flat on our faces and we look like fools for a while. But sometimes change is the best thing that could have happened to us. And we might never have known if we had never taken the risk.