I Don’t Enjoy My Role Anymore
Has your excitement ever waned? Have you ever found yourself feeling less passionate or interested in a role that once energized you?
Can we have a moment of honesty? Sometimes there are large parts of our role on a team that once gave energy and now seem to sap energy. Things that once pumped us up now have the ability to demotivate.
I have conversations like this fairly often with leaders and volunteers. We live in a culture that is bent towards listening to our feelings as a main indicator of what we should or should not do. Our feelings have a natural ebb and flow which means every now and again we hear our feelings say “I don’t enjoy doing this anymore.”
How do you manage your feelings? What goes through your mind when the new car smell goes away? Do you allow your feelings to be a primary decision maker in your life? Are you inclined to let your emotions decide things like:
Who should I date?
Should I get married?
Should we get divorced?
Should I make this big purchase?
Should I get involved in this project?
Should I quit my job?
Should I stop volunteering on this team?
Feelings are not a bad thing; they are part of our wiring as humans. Being completely driven by our feelings is unhealthy – however so is ignoring them. Some of us are inclined to put our feelings in the driver seat, while others are more likely to store them in the trunk.
Our goal should be to find a healthy balance between the extremes.
Many of us reach a point in our jobs as well as our volunteer roles where (if we were honest) we would say, “I just don’t enjoy this anymore.” Whether that feeling describes 10%, 50% or 99% of your role - you have to figure out how to deal with those feelings.
Now I cannot tell you what you should do. That feeling might be an internal warning light, prompting you to make a healthy change. That feeling could also be bad pizza from last night.
There are so many things that can inform our feelings. To help process here are 4 questions to ask yourself when feelings of discontent rise up:
Did I choose this or did God place me in it?
Has something changed around me or in me?
Am I closer to or farther from the person I desire to be?
Is this seasonal or is this a new norm?
Hopefully the answer to those questions provide insight or guidance as you decide what to do next. One last thought on this - processing these sort of questions is normal. Be sure to lean into a trusted friend or guide. Leverage the wisdom and care of someone else before you make a change.
