Hello everybody! Welcome back to my blog. The purpose of this blog is to help people find their way to a healthier lifestyle. I mostly talk about exercise, nutrition and the science behind them, which are my areas of expertise, but I also talk about sleeping habits, minimalism and many other subjects related to wellbeing and healthy lifestyle.
Maybe you’re wondering what AA stands for. AA stands for “Animal Attendant”, which is what I have become thanks to my certificate II in Animal Studies. But this post is not about me, it’s about having courage and working hard to follow your dreams.
This is a followup post from another one I shared a couple of months ago, when I decided to stop being a PT to seek a career in the animal care industry. Check it out for a little bit of background!
Today’s post is rather short. It’ll also be my last post until the end of October. I am finally going to visit my family in Spain after a long time, so I’ll have a little break from everything and take the most of the time with them. The Sanchi Says Lifestyle team will be back the 31 of October with more posts about exercise, nutrition, habits, and health in general.
Are you thinking about making a radical change in your life, quitting your job, and starting a new career from scratch? You are not alone. Many people realise later in life that they’re not doing what makes them truly happy and fulfilled. Even very successful people who apparently have everything (a dreamed job that gives them a good salary, a house to enjoy and raise their families, enough money to live comfortable) might comprehend later in life that that is not it. In the past 3 months I have come across people who, like me, got burnt out from their previous occupations, and are studying again or just doing casual jobs until they figure themselves out. These people tell me what they used to do, and many of them fell in the “ideal” lifestyle: working 9 to 5 Monday to Friday, decent salary, or working as something related to what they studied at Uni. Even so, they were not happy.
We expect that if we finish high school and go straight to study at uni or start a career as soon as possible then we will receive the benefits later in life. We only realise much later that we took a wrong path somewhere along the journey. The greater issue is that some people completely rely on that occupation to keep up with their lifestyle, though there is a hidden cost that is much higher. Being unhappy at work, which unfortunately represents a good deal of our time, will make you unhappy the rest of the time. You go back home from work, thinking what a bad day you had, daydreaming about what if you quit, and realising all the bills, mortgages, and debt that you still have to pay. Perhaps it is a bit too late to regret the decisions you made when you were 18 years old, but it might not be too late to start taking some steps.
First of all, work on a budget. A budget is something we all should do often to be on top of our finances. The main reason why people don’t take the first step towards their dreams is money. Making a budget without leaving anything out will give you a better idea of how much you and your household make and where is the money being invested and spent. Is there anything you can start cutting out of your budget in order to start saving up for your dream, whether that it studying, starting your own business, or just saving for a rainy day? When money stops being an issue, you may start feeling more positive and encouraged, and everything becomes easier and more achievable.
The second main reason why people don’t make life changing decisions is a perceived lack of time. Do you think it’s too late for you to start a new career? I think that, more than late, or old, you’re scared. And being scared is normal, but there’s so much you can do to overcome this feeling. If you need help doing this, talk to a psychologist or counsellor.
If you’re thinking that ubiquitous “I don’t have time” line, your problem is not time, your problem is a lack of priorities and organisation. As you work on a budget to figure out how much money you have available, you need to organise your time to see which activities are consuming your precious time. Is there anything you can scrap from your busy schedule to include activities that will drive you towards your dream?
The following are some posts I shared in the past about time management and how we use time as an excuse rather than being the real deal breaker. Check them out!
Once you have a budget and you have put your priorities in order, you’re ready. But the process takes some time, and this time depends on the individual. If your situation allows you to, start now. If there are things you need to fix or take care of first, make an action plan. Maybe you’ll need to start by reducing your hours at work instead of quitting completely, or you’ll need to study part time in order to keep working and paying your bills. The important thing is that you are doing something to make it happen.
To wrap up this post, if your problem is that you feel lazy or you’d like to change but you don’t want to give up on your current lifestyle to pursue your dream, my only advice is to find the beauty of your current job or occupation and do not complain. Everything has good and bad things, from being a stay at home parent to being a CEO. Find those good things and learn to love what you’re doing. This may not be the moment for you to change.
Changing careers, starting from zero, quitting your job, are not easy things to do, especially when you don’t have the emotional and economical support, but from my experience, it’s worth all the ups and downs, all the struggles, all the fear, and all the obstacles become a learning opportunity. For me, the last 3 months have been more enriching that a whole 10 years career in the fitness industry, and even though I love health, exercise, nutrition, healthy habits, there’s much more about this new career path that moves something inside me, and that makes all the great effort worth it.
That’s it for today! I really hope that you enjoy it. If you like what I do and you want to support this project, follow me on Instagram and Facebook, like the post and comment! Should you have feedback you’d like to leave, a comment to share with me, or a cool idea for a post, send me an email to sanchisayslifestyle@gmail.com
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