PIVOT

Have you ever cruised down interstate 95, probably exceeding the posted speed limit? You weave fluidly in the traffic in an almost coasting way. Suddenly, you come to a screeching halt due to roadwork. All the sudden, you are left with a split second decision. Do I stay in the traffic? Do I get off the interstate? You check the GPS to see how long it will be until you’re through the construction. But that offers no real answer. The time to sit is equal to the time it would take if you got off the interstate. You would wait through the millions of traffic lights in the barrage of stop and go cars off the highway. So what do you do?

If you took a moment to this scenario, you probably knew immediately how you would handle that situation. Personally, inching along at 5 mph is much better than stop, go, stop, go. For a period of time, I traveled for work and spent hours in the car, sitting in traffic. I still think back to that time. It was more than 15 years ago. I remember it with a small bit of venom. I vowed never to spend unnecessary time in the car. I’ve taken it so far as to move closer to my job to reduce the commute time. If an event is more than 20 minutes away, I’m probably not going. Venture out of the house more than once a day? Nope not for me. All of these decisions were made because I once spent too much time in the car. It felt like a waste. But what if what you’re doing to make your life better is actually the thing holding you back?

As we learned from Ross and Rachael, PIVOT(ing) is not a skill we all easily access. Especially when our life is set to cruise and we’re flowing with the obstacles life throws at us. Need more education for more money. Light weight. Need to take on more work to help the good of the cause. Got you. You think you’re headed in the right direction with a career change. Then you find out neither you nor your new company really loves you for this role. Skirt. Um. Did I just hallucinate? What do you mean I need to find a new job? Did I really just make a 30k mistake? It’s humbling to say the least. It’s almost like the car traveling in traffic didn’t see the taillights urging it to halt, crashing in slow motion like a scene from a movie. All the sudden, you’re standing outside of the car (because you’re not really injured) staring at the mess you’ve made. Ego death is real.

So where do we go from here? I think we all have different routes we like to take. I chose to go back to find the reason why I started the work I did. Each day I chose what suited me. This method of living life seemed selfish. Spending hours of time focused on my own happiness, and not doing something for the good of the cause? I had spent thousands of dollars and years of time trying to convince myself the wrong life was for me. The focus shifted from what can I give to make you better to what do I actually love doing? My list was simple: movement, health, and motivating and also things that are aesthetically pleasing – but that’s a whole different side hobby.

Two new beginnings emerged from this fork in the road.

1. In the fall, I return to teaching PE in an elementary school. The sole reason I took a degree in Exercise Science and turned it into a teaching degree was to be a PE teacher. This time around, I chose a school with a growing program, so I can develop and nurture it. I just spent 5 years building a program for a course of study I was not passionate about. This is truly a dream job.
2. The WunderWalks Blog starts as soon as I publish this post. While figuring out my next step, I started upping my step count as a form of decompression. Not only did the steps help sooth my anxiety, but they also allowed me to see a new path, a fresh start, a way out of the destruction. So I created this space, as a online community for growing and sharing steps of all kinds.

Step back and assess where you are on this journey we call life. Are you set on cruise control, doing what you should because it suits you and the life you built? Do you have a pivot plan or do you trust yourself to make that snap decision should life through you some unexpected traffic? Pivoting was never in my cards. I couldn’t be more thankful that the universe noticed. I was not listening to her messages. She sent me on a new mission.