Crafting a Rebound: What to Do if You Need to Start Over

I looked at the computer and scrunched my nose and tapped my feet on the hard wood floor beneath me. Papers and binders of marketing materials lay in a big circle around me. My hopes at being a copywriter for the food industry, specifically the baking industry, were not working out. Despite the books I had read, programs I studied and implemented and the letters and emails I sent out, nothing was working.

Ever feel like you need one big re-start?

First, it is a good idea to evaluate why something didn't work. This is especially true when you see a pattern in your life, like I wrote about it in this post.

Sometimes, we need to restart. A real, true, pivot to a new direction.

Restarts can be good, exciting.  It can help us shift to a new direction when we feel stuck.

For example, in my writing I've "restarted" about six different times.

As a kid, I wrote stories and mysteries.

In middle school I moved on to food magazines (Hello, Martha Stewart Jr. I had big aspirations).

I took a break from writing while I pursued "practical things" and wrote college papers and case studies.

Then I came back to copywriting in my twenties followed by freelance content writing from everything from finance audiobooks, to sports newsletters, to health articles to ebooks for wedding planners.  Anyone who knows me well can question why anyone in their right mind would hire me to write about things like venture capitalists, using credit cards to fund your business (please don't) and how to approach a bank for a loan.

As I cried through the research and writing about angel investors, I started blogging (it was about 2006) for both a creative outlet and with the hope of attracting attention for my writing.  It, and I, fizzled out after a while. I decided I needed a strong, firm direction.

Then I moved back into food writing and nonfiction.

Then to fiction and blogging. Now I am a blogger, author, coach and artist-in-the-works. The continual re-start came as I recognized I wasn't in the right fit and kept pivoting to learn and discover the artist I am supposed to be becoming.

8 Signs You Might Need a Re-Start

1. Your current habits aren't producing anything different.

It takes doing something new for something new to happen. Very few people get a magical wand swished over their life.

2. If you keep doing things the same way, the future doesn't look any different from yesterday or today.  Hope isn't a business plan. Hope is only credible if there is a reason to hope. I've been re-reading Henry Cloud's book Necessary Endings. It is amazing book - hard, but good. He spends two chapters on the importance of hope and why some hope is not only no good, it's actually harmful.

3. You discovered this wasn't what you thought it would be like. That's why internships are such a great idea. There's nothing quite like investing several years in training only to discover this isn't the right fit.

4. The idea of being in the same field or job for the next several decades makes you want to bury yourself in a gallon of Ben & Jerry's icecream AND barbque chips - together.

Maybe you need to evaluate your day job. OR...maybe you need an outlet to release your creativity in. It doesn't have to be either/or. But, we can only do so much. Television shows might have to go. Or hanging out with certain people (the ones you don't really like anyways). Consider what activities are life-giving and focus on doing more of those.

For me, picking up my watercolors and brushes is very life-giving. It relieves stress and helps me process stuff when I'm stressed. But I don't make any money from it. And for now, that's just fine.

5. You want to move in a new direction

No one says you have to stay in the same thing. Most people change from one thing to anotheer.

6. Your bored.

A lot of life may be routine but we really aren't supposed to be bored. There is art to make, people to encourage and help, friendships to discover, businesses to buid, If you're bored with your current life, it may be time to take inventory and

7. You're restless.

Internally and externally things aren't working like they used to. You know deep down within you need to make a change. Ironically, most of us would rather stay unhappy and secure than take a risk and be happy.

Decide to risk a bit of security to create something that could be the best choice you ever made.

 

The Art of the Restart

A few months ago I was in a car accident that left me fine, but my car pretty badly injured.  Because I walked away pretty much unscathed, I thought I was o.k.

I told everyone I was fine. I reminded myself I was fine.

The next day I went into work and fix-it mode. I finished up my work week with the necessary emails, phone calls, appointments made, work notes completed. I called the insurance company, got a rental car, and made options A & B for what work and expense the accident might incur.

But I wasn't really fine. My mental and emotional state was a little shattered. I didn't write for three days in a row. I didn't respond to most emails. Daily word counts and writing is a must for me, like drinking coffee in the morning. I don't stop unless I'm super sick.  The accident caused me to think about some things - the work I do, the stress I choose to tolerate.

We all need a restart every once in a while. It could be a restart as necessitated by an event, like my car accident or the realization that a job or business idea isn't working.