I had a call with a coach in which I told her that after 15 years of being an interior designer, I have come to realize that I don’t actually enjoy a lot of aspects of the job and that I have found that they aren’t a good fit for my personality. I thought that this was a great awareness that I was coming to, but the coach suggested that I was telling myself that my personality isn’t a good fit for the job rather than me actually not being a good fit for the job and that I should do a lot of thought work and models around the different situations that arise in my job that I find unpleasant/difficult to deal with, etc. I feel like for much of the 15 years I kept working at loving my job and telling myself and believing that I did enjoy it. That seems like a long time to believe something and still not be happy with my career.

If I’ve been conditioned to think in such a way that it’s taking so much thought work to deal with all of these clients and every little scenario that comes up just to keep my mind at peace so that I can enjoy the other aspects of my life, isn’t it ok to just find a new job? Or maybe a version of my job that requires less of these circumstances that I find difficult and annoying? I understand that it will benefit me to work through these things, and I’m willing to do that, but just not at the constant and rapid pace that it is happening in my current situation.

So I guess my ultimate question is, when do you decide it’s ok to just change your circumstance rather than doing all the work required to keep the circumstance the same and be happy/have peace?