A sad reality is that many of us don’t always have a choice over what job we decide to take. We may have to rush into a career that we don’t have any passion for just because we need to pay the bills and other expenses. 

It’s a very common scenario for a lot of people and unfortunately, it can cause a lot of issues in people's lives. It might affect their relationships, their mental health, their self-esteem, not to mention their ambitions come to a halt. 

But what do you do if you’re unsure if you’re in the wrong career? Perhaps you’re wondering if the grass is greener but you’re too scared to make that jump. Or perhaps you’re not ready to say goodbye to a job that you have settled in to for years.

Read on to find out how you can spot the signs that it might be time for a career change.

You’re always looking forward to leaving

Many of us do look forward to the end of a working day because it means that we can see our loved ones, eat, unwind, and take some time out to do whatever we want to do. That’s understandable. But there comes a time when you need to ask yourself if you’re really happy with what you’re doing or whether you’re just comfortable. A telltale sign is if you look forward to leaving work the second you arrive into work. 

You only live to work.

On the opposite end of the scale, maybe your life only revolves around work and it’s making you exhausted most days. Of course, our career should motivate us and we do need to be putting in effort if we want to get the most out of it, but we also need to have a life outside of work. If you find that you’re often declining invitations to see friends because you’re too tired or you can’t find any time in the day to focus on other hobbies, then it’s a clear sign that something needs to change. 

Your only motivation is a holiday.

We all look forward to taking a holiday and for many of us it’s our motivation to keep working hard. There’s nothing wrong with that. However, if the idea of having a holiday is the only thing that motivates you to go to work, then that’s definitely a clear sign that your heart just isn’t in it. It might be okay in the short-term but not something that you should stick with in the long-term.

You feel like you’re stuck in the same routine.

Routine is important and it’s what makes life a lot easier for some of us. It helps to have a set pattern and knowing what to expect each day. But at what point does it make us feel bored with our lives? At what point do we realise that we actually want more than this? If you spend a lot of time wishing that you were somewhere else or hoping that something would change, then maybe you need to take that into your own hands. 

You’ve seen a rapid decline in your mental health.

The most obvious and most important thing to pay attention to is how your job makes you feel at the end of each day. Being stuck in the wrong job can make you feel tired, depressed, anxious, stressed, confused, and scared of change. But change is often needed. It’s scary to get out of a job that you’ve become so comfortable with and perhaps there is also an attachment to your colleagues that you don’t want to leave behind. Maybe there is also the fear of the unknown; how do you know that you can be happier heading down a different career path? Well, to put it simply, you don’t. But one thing to be sure of is this: if you don’t take the risk then you’ll forever be stuck. Some risks are meant to be taken.

Written by,

Coralle Skye