*This post is an entry in the 2nd Stratejoy Essay Contest.  Throughout the next month, we will be featuring each finalist writing their answer to the question: What would your TED Talk Be? On September 13th, we will open the voting to YOU, our community, to select the winner of the $500 prize.*

*SARAH’S TED TALK*

“So. Inspirational, huh?” (*Sound of tumbleweeds*).

Cue nervous coughing from the audience.

(*More tumbleweeds*).

Cue nervous coughing from me.

“Can I/ Could I start again? (Pause) No? It wasn’t, I wasn’t really meant to start like this.” Turning to the audience. “Sorry, if I could just go back to the beginning and start properly I know I’d be OK.”

Silence. The kind of silence people cut with metaphorical knives. I look out into the blackness where the audience should be, blinking in the brightness of the spotlights. Searching for a person, a real live person who I can lock onto. Someone to understand. To put an end to this. And then I realise something. This is it. This is my moment. I have to go on.

People, you have just seen the start of my professional life, in a nutshell. I started off working hard, trying to help people. I thought I was doing the right thing. I was teaching, I was supporting young people as they made their way into the world. I was being paid well for doing the job I had always told myself that I wanted. So, why was I miserable?

I couldn’t put my finger on it at all. There I was in what should have been a happy position and yet I was miserable. To the outside world, I was happy, successful even. Inside I was a total failure. I had started wrong, and I didn’t think I could carry on. I would need to start again.

Who among us hasn’t felt that way at some stage in their lives? That feeling that we have made the wrong choices with our career, and that there is no real way back from that wrong step? That almost unconscious wish to start over. To begin again.

Well, I’m not here to de-motivate you. Far from it.  But I have to tell you: in real life there are no do-overs. You can never wipe the slate entirely clean and start afresh. What you can do is something that requires a little more thought and probably some careful planning.

Instead of a do-over, how about a move over? Don’t like your job? Inch by inch, move over to something you like more.  Don’t like your body? Step by step, move over to a better body place for you. Move over darling!  (*Doris Day music optional*).

Move over darling! Be fickle, be conscience free, be you. Just the you that’s over where you want you to be.

Move over darling! Be fulfilled, be creative, be you. Just the you who has achieved your hearts desire.

Now, you may be sitting there thinking to yourself “Really? It’s really that simple is it?”

And I would say to you this: YES. IT. IS.

Is it easy? No. In order to even begin on your move over your dream life you will work harder than you ever have before. You will become almost entirely obsessed. You will neglect your friends and family sometimes. You will have to apologise for this. A lot. You will have times when you are completely exhausted. When you wonder if it’s worth it after all.

It’s worth it. Believe me. Keep movin’ on over.

You may be in a position where you can afford to give up your current job and re-train entirely to get to where you want to go. If that sounds like you, then what are you waiting for? You’re so very lucky to be in that position. You should have started to work towards your dream yesterday! Get out there and get movin’ on over.

You may be in an entirely different place. You may still need your full time day job. Perhaps your dream job/training course/ mode of moving over has to be fitted into every spare minute of every tiring day. You’re not quite so lucky as those other people I just mentioned. Seriously, they’ve got it made compared to you. In fact, you’re probably hating those guys right now. Don’t waste that precious energy that you’ll need to make your dream into a reality! There’s no doubt you will have to work harder to get there but boy, the rewards when you do.  Everything you achieve will be worth so much more because you’ll know how hard it was to achieve. You’re movin’ on over in exactly the same way. You’re just taking the scenic route on your way there. And who’d want to miss all that lovely scenery?

Your journey might well be a long one. The changing of lanes may become problematic as you go. There may be roadblocks and pile ups. People might flip you the bird whilst cutting you up and stealing your parking spot from time to time.

Know this: if you missed a spot then that just means it wasn’t meant for you in the first place. There will be a much better one around the corner.  Your job isn’t to know your ultimate destination, it’s simply to keep moving over darling til you get there.

You may not even be sure where it is you’re moving over to. Listen to your heart and know that you will get to where you’re meant to go. The more closely you listen, the more likely you are to get there in one piece.

I’d like to leave you with a quote which inspires me on a daily basis:

“Take the first step in faith. You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.” Martin Luther King, Jr.

You might be journeying through the dark night sky. As long as your own lights illuminate the gound in front of you then that’s all you really need. Keep on moving and stepping and indeed shuffling if you have to. Eventually you will get to where you need to go.

And once you get there? Enjoy the view. I mean really enjoy the view.

*ABOUT SARAH*

Hi! My name is Sarah and I blog at A Cat-Like Curiosity. By day I work in Education. By night I am all about creativity. My main focus is curiosity. I am always looking for new things to try, new ways of looking at life, and new goals to achieve. I am inspired by  The Secret  and lots of other  Life Changing Ideas . I’d love to inspire others with my journey through life.