dreamstime_xs_32104346You’ve heard the phrase “The grass is always greener on the other side”.

I admit that I believed this for many years.  And in many ways I was an ideal situation chaser…maybe you are too?

 

Do you get frustrated with a situation and switch jobs or roles within the same company?  Do you work to get promoted just to change your situation? Is your resume to a point where one more change makes you look like a job hopper?

Sometimes we use change to avoid working through our own unhappiness.  Ask yourself are you really working towards your dreams or escaping your current reality?

Why do we chase jobs and situations instead of focusing on our own lawn that is in serious disrepair?  Often it’s because it’s the path of least resistance.

It’s easier to believe that an ideal situation or job exists then it is to create one for yourself.  You feed what you are praised for and encouraged to do.  Going your own way is hard because often others don’t “get” your dreams.  So you look at the grass next door and long for, seek and chase, the “perfect” situation but it alludes you.

So ideal situation chaser, lets look at why and how you can stop chasing the ideal job by looking at your own lawn…

1.  Your Lawn is Brown:  Yes not golden as they say in CA but brown.  You have stopped watering your own lawn and nurturing the seeds you’ve planted.  These are the seeds of your gifts, talents and abilities you are not using now.   How can you make time to do what you are good at?  And incorporate that into your daily life?

2.  Your Lawn is Overgrown with Weeds:  Maybe it’s dandelions or creeping charlie or thistles.  Whatever you weed of choice its the things that you let suck the joy out of life.  Every time you replace a negative thought or complaint with a positive thought or action you pull out a weed.  If you get in the habit of challenging yourself to see the good you will also see opportunities.  Until the weeds are gone you have no vision for how green your lawn could be.

3.  You Have Grass is Greener Envy:  So your best friend is great at working with people and maybe you’re not.  Maybe your thing is math and solving problems.  Learn to appreciate others for their gifts and focus on what you can do; what you are good at.  Remember that no one would know who Micheal Jackson was had he played basketball nor would anyone know Micheal Jordon had he become a signer.  They stuck to what they were good at.

4.  Moles are Destroying Your Lawn:  Yes these are these pesky little creatures that mess up your lawn.  These are also the road bumps that you will encounter when you are creating your ideal job and situation.  Not everything you try will work but remember that self-discovery is trial and error.  It is that process where you find yourself again.

5. You Haven’t Done a Soil Test:   Dig a few feet into the ground.  Is the soil rocky?  Mushy?  Filled with clay?  Can you grow anything in it?  This is your heart friend.  Has it been hardened by life?  Or is it filled with fear?  Where are you at today and what needs to change to bring more of you back into your own life?

6.  You Don’t Cut Your Grass:  Yes you are that neighbor.  Your grass is 6 feet tall. You need to cut it down.  Not just so your neighbors will be happy or so you don’t get fined by zoning but because you want new growth.   You need to cut out some things in your life so you can grow.  Maybe that’s games, FB games, TV?  Start to think about your time and boundaries.

How will you apply this to your life today?

Copyright 2014, Mary R.  Miller