5 Signs You're Ready For A Change

Good morning, good afternoon, good evening. Wherever you are in the world. Wherever you are in your world, I'm so glad you're here to spend a few minutes in the earwaves with me. I told you last episode that this was a bit of a teaser part of season three of the podcast. And one of the big reasons for that is I'm. I'm definitely rebranding it because if you haven't been paying attention to other corners of the world, I rebranded my entire brand, switching from Megan Siemens to Megan Johnston coaching, which, of course, was quite connected to the fact that I got married in 2023. And I did very intentionally choose to take Andrew's last name. It was a, as I just said, very intentional decision. It was a very energetic decision. There was a lot of, I'll use the word thought, but that doesn't even feel like the right word. There was just a lot of presence with that decision being made. And then translating that over to my business, honestly, was something that I didn't even think about when the original energetic decision happened, and then eventually decided to change it in my business, which I think another episode for another day. I can go into all of the reasons I made that huge pivot after operating my business since 2016 under one name. For a lot of people, the idea of changing something after that many years can seem terrifying. For me, some of the thoughts came up of, what if people forget about who I am? What if people like I change the name and all of a sudden I disappear from their radar? And, gosh, so many thoughts can come with a big change. And, you know, with that. So I'm rebranding the podcast to match that. I'm also going to be changing the name of the podcast, and there's actually going to be a poll in an upcoming newsletter that I send out if you want to be a part of that change. I'm going to do a little vote for, or actually a big vote for the new name of this podcast. So look out for that in your inbox soon and help me translate the new name into something that activates something within you as well, because that's why I hop on here with the mic every week, is to talk to you. And so with that, that brings us to our topic today, which is change. I have. Well, I won't say never. I've definitely had issue with change in my past. I always say I'm scared all the time. I think I was just born with an extra dose of fear. Maybe you relate to me on that. And for A long time I thought, oh, this fear is going to go away. And then I've realized, I mean, it's actually been quite recent how hard I was trying to push that fear away and get to this ultimate place where nothing was ever scary again. And I've just come to terms with that is not true. At least for this season. You know, I'm still open to the fear completely alchemizing away. But if I'm being honest with you all, which I always am, I'm scared all the time, anytime there's a change. I just told you all the thoughts I had from changing my website name and my Instagram handle. I'm scared all the time. There's always fear. And I'm always diving two feet first into change. I don't really like to do a head dive. I like to jump in feet first. I work a lot with women who are navigating change, stepping into change, whether it's a transition in life after loss and what the new chapter of life looks like, or changing careers after a really long, long, and sometimes really good season with one company. I've helped a lot of women launch businesses. I have helped with all kinds of change. I've helped with relationship change. I've watched clients end relationships and start relationships. I have gratefully been one of the first to know about a few pregnancies with several clients. That was a surprise. I didn't know that I would get holding space like this. This change is all around in the work that I do. And often I talk to people who are on the edge of a change and aren't making it. And maybe that's you, or maybe you've made lots of big changes and you're starting to wonder, should I keep making these? Am I doing this right? So I wanted to go through the five signs that you're ready for a change. And this is by far not an exhaustive list. I think we could probably come up with a hundred signs that you're ready for a change. And actually, a little idea bubble has just sparked in my mind that maybe a next episode will be five signs that you're not ready for a change. Just to give a little contrast here. Let me know if you want to hear that one. But let's talk through these five most common ones that I get to hold space for people in or just get to witness. So number one is a funny one. You endlessly talk yourself out of change. So you have this idea for what you want next and you feel it. You feel that gut knowing that Full body, yes. You hear every time you mention it that you know it's the right path. You have that knowing that it's right. But you find yourself in these internal cycles where you're talking yourself out of it. You go into logic mode and suddenly this thing that felt so right has all of these reasons that weight it down. And I'm not talking about actually making a decision because there is a part of logic in that process. There is. Doubt is a part of making a decision. Doubt pokes holes and then allows us to see what the right path is for us. I'm not talking about actually making this decision. I'm talking about after you have that knowing that this is right and you feel it and in the quiet moments in between, you know, yeah, that's the direction I need to go in. But you spend so much energy talking yourself out of it. You spend usually a lot of mental energy just spiraling over all of the reasons that you shouldn't. That's a big sign that you're ready because that's your protection mechanism coming in. That's your brain whose job is to keep you safe, whose job is to program your easy systems that you can repeat without thinking, without even giving it a second thought. Your brain's designed to create easy systems that just trigger and go. And by you making a change, you're likely breaking one of those well known systems. So let's take if you're deciding to leave your job and step into a business, all your brain has known for how many years, how many months is that job and the safety and the security that it creates and the routines that you're in and the rhythms that it gives you. And then all of a sudden you're going to break that in half and you're going to have to go on a different path. It's going to look very different if you're, especially if you're starting a business. It's one thing if you're stepping into a new job, which by the way also breaks that in half. Rattles brain completely and brain goes on full alert, cue all the alarms. Something's changing. We need to go into overdrive and fix this. And so you instead endlessly talk yourself out of it. And it's like you're in your own little echo chamber just inside your. Maybe sometimes I see this. Maybe you have certain people that you go to when you want to be talked out of something. You know, there's certain people in your life that you can present the quote negative and they will back it up. For you, that's something I see really common with people. It's like, well, I know it felt really good, but, you know, then I talked to Aunt Betty, and Aunt Betty agrees with me that this would be a big risk. So notice if that's a pattern that you've gotten into. Number two, you feel resentful about things and especially things that you usually love. So if you're ready for a change, it's out with the old, in with the new. What is change? We're stepping into new. And so if you notice that you're starting to feel resentful over little things or over things that generally bring you joy, you know, I'm thinking about a couple years ago, I was in a position. I shared a little in my last episode about abundance, how I needed to take some pressure off of my business. So I found a very flexible, remote job and I loved it. And I felt, my energy felt so seen. This was probably one of my first real life experiences of what it feels like to be recognized and invited in as a projector. Over and over and over again. The amazing human that I was working for really saw me and really saw my gifts and created a lot of opportunities around that. And I felt incredibly fulfilled in that work. And it gave me the freedom and flexibility I needed for my business, too. So both were thriving. Both. That was when I paid my debt off in 18 months. Everything was thriving in my life. Everything felt so good. And then one day I just started resenting everything. I started. Actually, I won't say one day. I would say it happened over time because often what happens when we prolong a change is we might feel that little hint of resentment of, oh, that's. That's not quite working anymore. Maybe something else changed for you. Maybe. Maybe your we'll stick with our career example. Maybe something changed in your role in your career and you don't like that very much. Or maybe everything stayed the same, but you started to crave that change. And all of a sudden you're resenting things that you once loved. And so I was being seen, but I was no longer being seen in the way I wanted to be seen. So I started to get resentful for that. I started to resent the hours that I was working, even though it was still so flexible. I was just finding these little things to nitpick. And sometimes that can bleed out into other areas of our life. So just notice if you find that you're getting resentful or bitter or irritated or annoyed, and you know, that brink of Change is on the way and it's starting to envelop your entire life systems. That's a big sign that you're ready for that change. Number three, you long for a time in the past. You find yourself really longing for usually a very specific time in your past. I know this one very well, and I want to say right off the bat, you're not actually longing for that past moment because consciously you know that you can't recreate it. Everyone knows very consciously. It sounds very simple to say we can't recreate the past. You know this. You're not actually craving the past. And, and particularly I see this when, when I'm working with humans who are craving something in their past that actually was no good for them. So have you ever been in that place where you're like, oh, I just wish I had that back. But you remember it didn't end well, or there was actually not a lot of good in that season, but you're still craving it and you're like, what is wrong with me? You're like, why do I want that back? It's not. It's because you're actually craving the feeling that that created. You're craving the feeling that that past circumstance gave you. And that's what you want in the change. And so you'll long for this moment in the past because your brain knows it. We can replay and pre play anything we want as humans and so we can replay that feeling as if we were in it. And it's like the old rose colored glasses, it's like, oh yeah, that was wonderful. Even if it wasn't, there's. And even if, let's say it was really good, either way, we know we can't actually recreate it. So we'll recreate it in our mind so that we replay those feelings and we get into that state and we're like, oh, I just need that again. But actually all you're craving is that feeling and you're protection mechanisms are going, whoa, we're not going to get that in this new change that you want. Obviously this new change is going to be scary and terrifying and uncomfortable, which is true and, which is true. And, and also a little tip here is notice the. If you find yourself stuck in that pastime, notice the feeling of it, like really get in touch with what is the feeling that this past event had and then start to cultivate that now. And I always say we don't have to leap off the edge without looking. So I hope you know in this entire episode Even if these signs are present in your life, it doesn't mean we have to go, okay, I'm done. Because we're not all operated that way. That's not how we are all wired. What we can do, especially if we're in this longing for the past, is we can go, okay, what is that feeling I was craving? Okay, how can I cultivate that now and then I can start to anchor and strengthen as I step into that change. That feeling showing up. Okay, number four. Our fourth sign that you are ready for a change is you keep trying to outsource your decision. Oh, this is a biggie. Maybe if someone else could just tell me the answer. Maybe if someone else could just tell me how it worked for them. Maybe if I just keep looking for examples of how this played out in other people's lives, I would know if this was the right move for me. Outsource. Outsource. Outsource. This could look like very tangibly, literally asking people for their opinion, for their advice, for their feedback. But this could also look like you just trying to find that evidence. Maybe scrolling on social media or endless Google trains. If you're like me, I'm a Googler. It's a great word, Googler. It can look very tangible or intangible. But the fact is you're outsourcing your decision. I'm no longer going to trust the yes that came through than knowing that this is the change that I ultimately want. I'm now going to trust someone else to anchor that in for. For me, everyone has an opinion. I'm actually in the midst of making a huge change right now. Announcement coming soon, I guess, and everyone has an opinion about it. And I was in the state of is this what I slash we should actually be doing? Because it's myself and Andrew that will be doing this. And we were asking a ton of people and then one day we said we made the choice. We made the choice. This is it. And I found that the opinions had a different flavor the moment I made that choice versus before. The opinions, the feedback and the advice had a different flavor before I made a choice of this is what we're doing. And we made the choice together. I was like, oh, you know, so and so said this. We didn't think about that. What about this? Oh my gosh. And again, this is part of the change process. But how long are you prolonging it? And then we made the choice. And then after we were getting. It's funny how this happens after you make a strong, powerful choice. You Tend to get more unsolicited opinions, unsolicited advice, and you start to feel that, well, your brain will easily start to say, see, these are all the things we were thinking about. Did we make the right choice? But it's actually so common. Once you make a strong choice and stand in your power, it's so common for your fears to be voiced externally around you by other people. And so how strong can you hold your boundaries in those moments? Someone was giving us a very unsolicited opinion on what we decided to do the other day, and it was someone who is not in my closed circle, just, frankly had no business giving an opinion on this topic. And I found my boundary going up so hard in that moment of, oh, I'm sorry, I think that we started this conversation wrong. I. I wasn't actually asking for feedback on this. Thank you for sharing, but that's not what I was looking for here. And, oh, did anyone get uncomfortable hearing that? Yeah, it is uncomfortable. And I know that there is a past version of me that would have heard all of that feedback and gone, oh, my gosh, these are all the things I was thinking. I need to change. I need to. I need to change everything back. So notice if you're trying to outsource your decision, and notice the flavor of opinions before you make a choice. And after you make a choice, notice how they land. Okay, number five. Our fifth and final sign that you are ready for a change is that you feel both uncomfortable where you are and uncomfortable where you're going. Listen to that again. You feel uncomfortable where you are and uncomfortable where you're going. There is discomfort in both. If you want a change, something is not working right here, right now, and it's uncomfortable. And the change itself also feels uncomfortable. And there's a difference in that. There's a difference in that mode. And there's a difference between, well, I'm actually comfortable right now. I could see something else. Sure. It feels a little uncomfortable, but I. I feel comfortable right now. We. We have this. I feel like in the past few years, we made comfort a bad word, a dirty word. We should never be in comfort, or we're settling. I don't believe that to be true. I think sometimes in life we need to be comfy. I'm recording this podcast with you in my cozy, fuzzy bathrobe. I feel so comfortable right now, and it feels so good at the same time. There's an edge of discomfort because I'm putting my voice out there and I'm putting myself out there. And there's someone who's listening to this that's like, screw you. I don't agree with that. That's uncomfortable. But I feel comfortable overall. There's always an element of comfort and discomfort. There's also a difference between I feel uncomfortable now and where I'm going feels pretty comfortable. It feels pretty easy. That could be a good thing. That could also be a sign that you're trading one circumstance for another circumstance and expecting something big to change in your life. Just notice, But I think the big sign here is I'm uncomfortable where I am, and I'm uncomfortable where I'm going. And I'm stuck in between this discomfort, these two discomfort walls, and I'm like, which one has the doorway? And it's the one with the change. I'll just give you the answer. We'll skip to the finish line here. The one with the change is the one that you're designed to take. I always say a life inside your comfort zone is actually the most uncomfortable of them all. And there's no way for you to know that until you're on the other side of your change. You can use me as evidence. I can tell you every single time I've made that hard decision to lean into the discomfort on that side. It's. It's always been magical, beyond words that I could explain in this podcast episode with you. So those are our five signs. I would love to hear from you today if one really resonated with you, stood out for you. Those called out moments, I love hearing those. And I want to finish with this. The truth is, you're never going to feel fully ready for a change. You will never feel fully ready for a change. Ready is a lie that your comfort zone has built. All of these signs that I gave you for change had another side to them, and we teeter in between because we're waiting for this moment to be, oh, I'm fully ready. But even in that fifth one there I shared, there's going to be comfort and discomfort. There's going to be excitement and nervousness. There's going to be. I'm talking myself out of it, and I'm feeling so good. At the same time, there's going to be. I'm feeling resentful here, and I'm stepping into something I love here. There's always going to be a duality, and you're never going to feel fully ready for change. Whether it's change that's forced upon you, which, hello, life, throwing us curveballs. How can we even be ready for those changes, but we can know that we're equipped to handle the change that we step into, whether it's unexpected or expected. You're here listening to this podcast which means you have survived every change that has ever come across your life. Celebrate yourself in that. So you'll never feel fully ready. You'll never feel fully ready. All of the prep, all of the set up, there's always going to be something. There's always going to be one more thing. Well, if we just did this one more thing, then it would hold it in place. There's always going to be one more thing. And so trust instead of waiting for ready, trust that you know when you're ready and you are enough for the change that you are stepping into. Thank you so much for tuning in today. If you're ready to get unstuck and on with a joyful life, you're ready to be magnetically you in life, relationships, business and everything in between. I invite you to apply for coaching together. It all starts with a clarity call. If you thought this was magic, get ready to blow your mind through your own possibilities. Apply for coaching at megansemans.com forward/coaching.