“2020 was a reset for all of us—and my big wakeup call was realizing how much I truly don’t like my 9-5 corporate job. Working from home and finally having an excuse to say “no” to boring weekend plan invites gave me the ability to finally rest my mind and figure out what I want. Now that we’re returning back to the office and diving back in, I really don’t want to go back to that office culture. I dream of quitting and doing anything else more creative and less time-sucking, however, I am a single mom to two kids, and I worry it’s not the smartest thing to do during the pandemic. What can I do? How can I try to start new when I literally feel stuck where I am?” —Amy, 36, GA Martha Beck: The journey of 1,000 miles starts with one step and it’s one step at a time all the way, so start with tiny steps. Research shows that tiny steps actually create bigger changes than big steps. Quitting your job is a huge step, so instead, start spending a little more time each day doing less of what you don’t like, and 10 minutes more of what you do like. Can’t decide where to begin? Ask yourself: what turns on your creativity? Even if you’re at work, you can take a 10-minute break to do something that feeds your creativity. Read a book you love, write in a journal, listen to music—put yourself into the activities that make your soul feel at home. Just do it for 10 minutes, and do that for several days at a time. Then, miraculously, you’ll start seeing new places where you can do less of what you don’t like, and more of what you do. A huge change for me when I was a working mom with little kids came when I decided that instead of cooking the regular dinner I thought I should cook, we would have really quick meals and then my kids I would spend the rest of the time painting. I love to paint so I would paint in the kitchen because it was a place I could clean up and it turned out my children loved to paint too, and we all painted together. What I discovered is that when I reduced the time I spent worrying about work and increased my creativity, my children joined in and they modeled on it and so it set them free as well. When they grew up they were careful to choose jobs that satisfied their creativity, so set your kids a wonderful example by feeding your own creativity a little more each day. You’ll get stronger and stronger from this and then the day will come when even quitting your job won’t be a big step—it will just be the next logical step. You will know where you’re going, and you’ll know what to do. When an airplane turns 1 degree true North every half hour or so, you can’t even tell it’s turning, but it will end up in a very different place. Next up, check out Special Place For Women author Laura Hankin’s advice for dealing with a case of the green-eyed monster.
