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 The end of anything – school, relationships, friendships, university, a job, a flat, can feel like a small death.
You’ve often invested a lot of time, effort and perhaps even money into it, and to see something you love or cherish come to an end, is traumatising.
While grieving properly is an important part of the healing process, another part of it that is not spoken about enough is looking to the future. What do you do when you’ve come to an end of a big part of your life – and you’re facing either a fork in the road, or just not sure what lies next? It’s good to have a plan, so you don’t feel like you’re just drifting along. Here are a few inspirations that might help you compile your next list of life goals.  Live alone
Living alone does something for you that few other things can: it gives you total and utter freedom. You don’t have the hassle of flat meetings, flat money, flat foods, flat chores and flat bitching if you live alone. And there’s no risk of waking up a sleepy boyfriend when you watch late night reruns of Sex & The City in bed. So try this; for a minimum of six months, live by yourself. The first three months, you’ll hate it and wonder if you’re turning into an old lady with cats. After that, you’ll wonder why you didn’t do it sooner.  Take a holidayPeople come up with all sorts of excuses not to take holidays: not enough money, too much work, family, kids, pets, etc. Where there’s a will, there’s a way. Arrange for a friend to housesit, apply for some annual leave, work out a payment plan for the credit card when you get back and go. Holidays should be for a decent length of time, at least 10 days, preferably three weeks. It doesn’t matter if the only place you can afford to go is Sydney, getting out of the country is a good thing. It gives you new perspective and you always come back from holiday a little different.  Learn something you know nothing aboutThis actually works like a charm. A friend of mine was math-phobic, but she decided to do a refresher course at uni level in the evenings. While she didn’t suddenly morph into Good Will Hunting, she did learn enough that she was a bit more confident about her numbers skills. Today, decide to learn something new. It can be something challenging, something you’ve always wanted to know or even something you secretly fear. There is no better reason for this other than that it will open your eyes not only to a whole new world, but to how much you can actually do, if you set your mind to it.  Change your jobWe no longer live in a society where people work for the same company from cradle to grave. While there is such a thing as loyalty to your boss, most of us work for giant faceless corporations that won’t hesitate to make you redundant if cutting your salary means the bottom line goes up. If you’ve always envied the job of one of your friends, or sighed when you saw someone on tv with the perfect career, think about switching jobs. Work is hugely important. If you think about it, we spend more of our waking hours at work than anywhere else – wouldn’t you rather do something you’re passionate about, that gives meaning to your life?
Sarah Lane |
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