Little Steps, Big Dreams, New Job

I mentioned last week that I am a dreamer.  And I am a fortunate dreamer who landed a spot on Holley Gerth’s God-sized Dream Team.  Every Tuesday for the next several weeks I’m writing about aspects of achieving your dream.  Today, Holley’s team is talking about taking little steps toward your dream.

So the news I’m leading with sounds remarkably like a HUGE step and nothing like a little step:  I got a new job.  A wonderful new job.  I start next month.  The reason I’m leading with this news is because not only am I excited to share, but sometimes the small steps resonate more if you know the punch line.

Here’s the lead up to the punch line.  I have a good job.  I work for an exciting company that was supportive throughout my triplet pregnancy and maternity leave and that supported me in all the community work and writing that I do.  However, after I became a mom, and I really started doing this writing thing, I realized I was under a tremendous amount of stress.  Any job in my career will come with stress and impending deadlines, but my current role required a lot of additional work and I’m in a field where I bill by the minute so there is, de facto, an intense pressure to work A LOT.  But….as most of you know, I’m not crazy about change.  That whole, the devil you know is better than the devil you don’t know.  Plus, it was a good job and in a slow economy I felt like I shouldn’t even think about a transition.

As this new opportunity arose last fall, I started taking small steps to combat my change-averse and nervous-Nelly nature:

1.  I talked to smart people – the first two people who called me about this opportunity I said, “thanks but no thanks” because I thought the commute would be more challenging.  Then I talked to a friend in my neighborhood who has the commute.  Then I talked to a working mom who works for the new company.  Then I talked to a dear friend of mine who left my company to move to the corporate world a year ago.  Do you know what they all said?  You are an insane person if you don’t at least talk to these folks about this opportunity. This is your dream job and you can’t even see it.  You know what?  I sent my resume over the next day.

2.  I started reading – about dreamers and leaders.  I read the Bible, Christian books, and leadership books.  Do you know what they said?  Pray bold prayers.  Take bold action.  I realized my comfort zone was getting uncomfortable.

3.  I let God work despite me – I can not tell you I was a strong believer that knew this was the path He called me to walk or that I knew I would get the job.  In fact, I worried and stressed about what would happen either way.  But in the middle of that stress God continued to lead me to songs and books that pointed me to peace.  That pointed me to trust.  I kept failing, and He kept turning me around and working despite my imperfect progress.

Weight Watchers tells you that even if you have a bad week you have to come back and weigh and go to the meeting because you can fix anything that happens over the week, but if you let it go it takes forever to turn the ship around.  I’m a living testament to that.  Well, faith and dreaming work much the same way.  It’s okay if we fail.  It’s okay if we forget to ask God what we should do the first time out of the gate.  It’s okay if we fall off the wagon and doubt and panic.  Because we come back the next week or the next day or the next hour and remember His plan for us.  We come back and seek His guidance.

This job is not directly connected to my connecting working women dream, but it alleviates some serious external pressure that will allow me to continue to have a career and do this whole writing thing.  It is a gift.  And I am constantly amazed at the Giver.  I shared Psalm 37 in one of my Big Decisions posts, but it bears repeating:

For when you did awesome things that we did not expect, you came down,

and the mountains trembled before you.

Since ancient times no one has heard,

no ear has perceived, no eye has seen any God besides you

who acts on behalf of those who wait for him.