“Don’t ask yourself what the world needs, ask yourself what makes you come alive.  And then go do that.  Because what the world needs are people who have come alive.” – Howard Thurman

Whenever I’m in a large metropolitan area, I always marvel at the number of businesses there are.  Manufacturers, retail, restaurants, you name it.  You drive for miles and it’s business after business after business. 

And then I think about all the people working for those businesses.  It’s amazing to me.  All those people and they all have different jobs doing different things in different places for different businesses.  Crazy.

Then I’ll talk to a leader who clearly isn’t happy.  They clearly aren’t passionate about what they do.  They clearly are exhausted.  They talk about how frustrated they are and how every day feels like a struggle.  And then they say something like, “Oh well, I guess this is just how it is.”

No, it isn’t.  It is how it is because we choose it to be that way.  Think about those millions of people doing different jobs in different places.  There are so many choices.  You are not where you are because you’re stuck there.  You’re where you are because you choose to be there. 

I’m not suggesting that everyone would be happy just quitting their job and picking some random new job at a place they happened to see from the freeway.  What I am suggesting is that there are literally millions of opportunities out there.  You are never stuck.  You can always choose to do something different.

And maybe you should.  If you really aren’t passionate about what you do, and it’s incredibly frustrating and exhausting, that’s usually a sign that you’re not doing what you’re meant to be doing.  And that it’s time for a change.

We make lots of excuses for staying miserable.  Maybe we think we have to make a certain amount of money.  Maybe we think our job title carries a certain amount of respect or prestige.  Maybe we think people will think we’re crazy for giving that up.

Whatever the case, sometimes it’s time for a change.  No amount of money or prestige or anything else is worth that misery.  You aren’t stuck.  You have options.  They may be challenging or uncomfortable, and they may require some hard conversations with yourself, but they are there.  Make the most of them.