Time For A Change

Well it’s been an exciting week focusing on four blogs on the theme of “Its time to change” and I have loved how everyone has gone is so many different ways on this simple topic, plus I have many more to come through the month of December.

Today’s #AdventBlog is from Rachel Dodd, someone who I have known for many years and worked with closely. She is a brilliant human being and has chosen a reflective blog on the topic of change.

Rachel is connectable via LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/rachel-dodd-659a173a/ So, its over to Rachel to reflect and over to you to share your reflections via LinkedIn.

I was 50 last November. 50…sounds almost grown-up.  I was proud of my achievements in this first half century but also restless, keen for something new. The time felt very right to make a change but I didn’t know what.  I made a list of what I wanted to do in the coming year whether it was learning a different skill, mastering an existing talent or exploring new places and set about sorting the when and how. 2025 was going to be different.

I had no idea how different it was going to be.

Alongside researching and planning how I was going to (finally) learn to tap dance, take on the Yorkshire Three Peaks Challenge and bake the perfect cheesecake, I also needed to find a new job. The first big change was taking voluntary severance from a job that was not only disappearing but one I had possibly also outgrown. It was a wrench as I valued my close colleagues, was very fond of my team and could see the possibilities ahead yet also knew that next phase was not for me. A change was needed and I took a leap into the unknown. Reader, this was not my first leap. I have form.

After some excellent adventures and time with family and friends, I set about applying for that new challenge. I wanted “something different” and that was as specific as it got. It was only when applying for a role as a Project Manager that I spotted an advert for a Change Manager, still within the sector I’d gained experience in over the last 25 years but with a chance to see the change process from a different perspective. Perfect.

The fact this opportunity was 200 miles north of the city I had lived in for the last 20 years did not deter me because it did not cross my mind for a second that I would actually be offered the job.  This is no false modesty: I was aware of how competitive the job market was and equally aware of the degree of subjectivity that creeps into recruitment processes. I simply might not be the right fit and, importantly, I might not want the role anyway. I viewed this exercise as “useful practice” and was surprised to find myself booking interview travel a couple of weeks later.

The further surprise was being offered the job. This was not the change I had set out in search of at the start of the year. “Trust the process” as a wise friend often reminds me so I decided to go for it, put my house up for rent and accept the fixed term contract offered which started the painful process of finding new accommodation at the height of summer in a city famous for its international festival in August. A festival that attracts thousands of visitors all in search of a bed. The phrase “didn’t think this through” could be etched on my headstone.

So much change.  All at once.

A new city. A new address. A new job. A new employer. A new area of work to learn. A new team. Even the bank notes looked different.

I learned so much, quickly.

I championed the small wins: navigating my way without relying on Google Maps, working out the quickest walk to work, finding a new favourite café all gave me a huge sense of accomplishment.

I became a Joiner of Things whether that was the community choir, a book group, an outdoor swim group (the brilliantly named Edinburgh BlueTits) or volunteering at my local junior parkrun.

I learned new systems, new acronyms and how much my new colleagues like cake (because I’d forgotten I like to bake, too).

I explored new places from running routes along the Water of Leith to cheering on Scotland at Murrayfield, marvelling at the festive lights across the city, dipping in the Firth of Forth and lots of parkrun tourism.

I learned to trust the process.

I remembered that sometimes we simply have to leap and the net will appear.

None of this was on that list I made in November 2024. I looked at it again recently: I still haven’t learned to parallel park. I feel a new list coming on.

Picture of Rachel on Portobello beach in Edinburgh after a frosty swim.