I’m not going to advocate escapism as a coping method – at least not when it comes to most things in life.
There is a time to stay put, without a doubt.
There is a time to batten the hatches, hold tight to the things that you’ve invested in, and to weather any storms that come your way. There is a time to buckle down when what you want most is to run. There is a season for staying and fighting.
But there is also a season for change.
There is a season for new beginnings.
A season for leaving behind what you have known and being bold enough, strong enough, brave enough to start all over.
But it’s so, so easy to forget that we are able to do that.
It’s easy to forget that we are not stuck right where we are. That we can quit our jobs, drop out of college, move out of our overpriced apartments or walk away from the relationship that is holding us back.
It’s easy to forget that the majority of our experiences only exist because we’ve chosen them.
We are where we are because of a series of decisions we’ve made – and we are allowed to unmake them.
We’re allowed to walk away from what once grew us.
We’re allowed to leave behind what once inspired us.
We’re allowed to change any part of our lives that is no longer growing us or challenging us or working for us, simply because we know intuitively that we ought to.
Because the truth is, we always know.
Some core part of us is always direly aware of what we need, even when we’re not ready to admit it to ourselves yet.
There is a deeply intuitive component to all of us – a part of us that knows who we are. What we want. And exactly when it’s time to walk away.
And we need to start listening to that part of ourselves.
Because that intuitive part of us always knows when something has served its purpose.
It always knows when our time has come. When the tides are changing. When one season of our lives is drawing to a close and another one is starting to move in.
It’s our conscious mind that doesn’t always pay attention. It’s our conscious mind that leaves us shivering out in the cold because we’re not dressed appropriately for the changing weather. It’s our conscious mind that feels ‘off,’ because it’s not living in accordance with what our intuitive mind already knows.
And our intuitive mind always knows when it’s time to move on.
When it’s time to pack up. To call it a day. To take the lessons we’ve learned and the experiences we’ve acquired and to keep on moving along, with them in tow.
Our intuitive mind knows when it’s time to keep growing. When the jobs we’ve been working, the people we’ve been meeting, the lessons we’ve been learning are no longer pushing us towards our full potential.
When the comforts we’ve acquired have begun lulling us into stagnation. When the accomplishments we’ve gathered have stroked our ego so heavily that we’ve stopped listening to our hearts.
When a change in scenery, in purpose, in direction, is the precise thing that we need to become a better version of ourselves.
Our intuitive mind always knows when it is time to start over.
The question is, will you listen to it?
The question is, how much longer can you afford not to?
By Heidi Priebe for ThoughtCatalog