What happened to stable jobs for life? It was the dream of many people for decades and there are still remnants of that expectation of finding a good job for life. But the current situation has banished job stability from our prospects and we have to accept it as soon as possible to overcome the fear of changing jobs. A fear that, if we do not overcome it, will accompany us throughout our working lives and will affect other areas of our lives. Dare to take the step!
The fear of changing jobs
- The fear of changing jobs falls within that natural fear of change. When we are in a situation that we know and that we manage in a certain way, we feel more secure. Although safe does not mean happy. It is the low tolerance for uncertainty that makes us go through life with that fear that everything will change; because we also always think that the change will be for the worse. And it is not like that.
- Perhaps because we have been raised in the belief that the known bad is better than the good to be known, we prefer that low-paid job or one that does not fulfill us at all rather than shelving a life stage and starting a new one. And that habitual message that invites us to stay where we are while on the other hand new messages reach us, sometimes positivist to the point of exaggeration, which force us to move, to take risks, to search and to continue searching, causes us enormous confusion.
- Thus, we often find ourselves faced with this fear or panic of changing jobs. Sometimes we ask ourselves because we are not doing anything that fills us: What if I go for my dreams? But other times it is the job instability itself that makes us have to look for another job.
- And it scares us. It scares us because we don’t know what awaits us in this new job. We are afraid to leave the comfort zone even if it is not very comfortable. We are afraid of leaving the security of the known for the uncertainty of the unknown. We are afraid of not measuring up, not living up to it, not doing it well.
How to face the fear of a new job?
- This fear is natural, of course. But we ourselves see how it is paralyzing us in a situation that we either want to change in order to have a fuller and more meaningful life or, simply, because we have no choice but to accept that dismissal letter and start somewhere else.
- And how can you overcome the fear of changing jobs? The truth is that it is not easy, because it requires unlearning many things that we had learned well, because it requires a different perspective on life and that is difficult to achieve. And because, especially, it requires learning to better tolerate uncertainty, something that can lead you to suffer from an anxiety disorder and for which you may have to ask for help.
- When we change jobs we lose control of the situation and fear arises because we consider it something negative. It is true that in a new job we will be lost for a while, we will not control the environment or the tasks and we can come to doubt our abilities. And at the bottom of all this is, as we say, that intrinsic fear of change.
- And if you see it as a challenge? After all, challenges are attractive and stimulating. What if you see it as an opportunity to change your life? Maybe it’s what you were needing. And if you see it as a warning of destiny for you to evolve? And if you see it as the push you need to break all your routines and create a new life? We give you options to change your perspective, but we remind you that you will be more prepared to change jobs the better you tolerate uncertainty.