Leaving The Nest

Making the leap from a secure and steady career into the unknown brings to mind the plight of the baby eagle taking those first shaky steps before soaring into the skies.

During my career as a police officer, I had the utmost respect and admiration for colleagues who knew for certain that this was the life for them. That certainty of purpose and commitment to service underpins the brave officers who protect and serve our communities.

However, there are those who are driven by another desire. Our instincts are built experience by experience. We should trust our instincts because they rarely fail us. If our instinct tells us we are in the right career, the right relationship we should trust it. Question it occasionally by all means, but on the whole, our instincts guide us on the right path. When our instinct leads us toward an alternative direction, we should listen to it and not ignore it. I’m not suggesting this is a panacea for a perfect life, but when you reflect back on when you have followed your instinct, you will usually find it steered you where you were meant to go.

My instincts told me that life held something different for me beyond the police service. Whilst I lacked direction for my life for a short while, I knew my time had come to fly. Years later, I was to put this into better words than I had been able to when considering my options about leaving the police.

“Fulfilment in life and our work is a right, not a privilege for the chosen few. Everyone is entitled to feel fulfilled by their work, wake up feeling inspired and impassioned to go to work and return home with a sense that we are contributing to something larger than ourselves. Fulfilment is not a lottery reserved for a lucky few who get to say, “I love what I do” and mean it wholeheartedly.

Every one of us has a WHY, a definite major purpose in life, a cause or belief that is the source of our passion and inspiration. You may not yet know what yours is or how to express it in words. But I guarantee, you have one.

I have always believed instinctively that we all deserve to wake up inspired to go to work and come home, at the end of the day, feeling fulfilled by our work.

Fulfilment isn’t another word for happiness. All kinds of things make us happy at work, such as hitting a goal, getting a promotion, completing a project—the list goes on. But happiness is temporary, the feeling doesn’t last. Nobody walks around energised by the memory of a goal hit twelve months ago. That intensity passes with time. Fulfilment is deeper. Fulfilment lasts.

I knew that my WHY centred around making a difference in the lives of others, helping individuals others on their path to happiness or businesses enjoy more success. I knew the essence of my WHY, what I hadn’t yet realised is that the WHY can change with events and circumstances in our lives.

Like the eagle leaping from the nest into the unknown for the first time with no real sense of direction, this was how I felt. All I had was the utmost faith that my direction or path would unfold for me in the fullness of time. I viewed it like taking a particular fork in the road on life’s journey. The first fork may not be the right or ultimate one, but other forks would appear that would resonate with me, and this is very much how my story unfolded.

For anyone reading this article who may be considering fleeing the nest of security, you should not underestimate the doubt and uncertainty you will experience. Breaking out from a cocooned secure existence of a career is not easy and the decision should not be taken lightly.

However, if you are passionate about an alternative career path and your research makes you confident of the opportunity, you will find the courage to leap.

Wishing you every success and happiness.

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