Winds of Change - Boomers and CDS
By Yvonne F. Brown

OK, so you've made it through the formative years of your career and you've made it to a career level where you now consider yourself successful. What's that you say? You're experiencing a strange uncomfortable feeling and it's not what you expected to feel when you attained your goal? Hmm?

Your spouse and children have noticed a change in your demeanor, but they can't quite name exactly what it is? Your network of colleagues and friends say the light of excitement seems to have dimmed in your eyes and that "you don't seem like yourself lately?" My friend, I think you are experiencing the dreaded "Career Dissatisfaction Syndrome" (CDS).

First, let me assure you, that you are not alone. If you can remember when there were no PCs or PDAs and you actually had leisure time, then part of your CDS may be due to the rising workload and expectations of today's business world. In times [long gone] you could work your 8 hours and go home and have a life outside of work. Today, if you leave after a nine-hour day, you still have to take work home with you because there never seems to be enough hours in the day to get it all done.

Now, there are many reasons for this. One of them is the downsizing that is so pervasive in the business world today. Let me tell you something baby, get used to it. As long as Wall Street continues to reward the organizations that downsize, this craze will continue. Those of us who do not get cut to find ourselves on the street, are at first joyful that, "Thank God, it's not me".

But there is a price to pay my friends. We pay with the stress of waiting to see if next time it is us who will be release to seek opportunities elsewhere [RESOED!]. That fear of being the next person out of a job, combined with the stress of and expectation that we do the job of two, maybe three people can make us sick and give us CDS.

If you are like most people you want to do a good job and take pride in your work. But how can you experience feelings of accomplishment when you already have so much on your plate? In order to simply complete your daily work, you no longer have time for things like thinking about how you feel. What's that about?

If you're like me, you have the added pressure of shrinking project timelines, while the required tasks to get the job done remain the same or worse yet, actually increase. I have found myself at the client site at 2:00 a.m. wondering if this is why I spent all those years in the university getting a degree.

Can it be any wonder that we're having these feelings? Maybe it's because the future that we saw, is not the present that we live in and experience.

But wait! There is hope, my friends! You can do something about it and change your life back to a relaxed and happy one. Many of us have done just that. However, it may take a change in careers or position or lifestyle.

Are you up to the challenge? Do you want your life back? Then you must go through the fire of self discovery and decide now what you would like to do for the next years of your life.

If you decide to do something about it, then each time you find yourself feeling happy, take note of what you are doing and incorporate that into the new future you will build for yourself.

When you have gathered enough material regarding your joyful moments, take inventory of your experience, put skills and joyful moments together, and use them to build a new career that will surely propel you to the special place, where you once again have that light in your eyes.

Begin each day with great expectations and while you're at it, build in some time to have a life as well. Believe me, you'll never regret it and you will find yourself waking up and saying "its going to be a great day!"