Feeling stuck in your career can feel like standing in a fog. You can’t see very far ahead. You don’t have a clear path.
Your instinct is to stand still and wait.
Until …
… the fog lifts by itself and things become clearer,
… you feel more certain,
… you know exactly where you’re going.
But what if the fog doesn’t lift by itself? What if it only lifts when you start walking?
Let’s talk about that.
Why Uncertainty Feels Overwhelming and Uncomfortable
When something feels uncertain, many people try to solve it with thinking.
But more analysing can lead to more worrying, which in turn leads to rumination and overwhelm. Which doesn’t help much.
Navigating career change is not only about thinking alone. It’s also about taking action and seeing what happens. That is how you create clarity for yourself.
Clarity comes from exposure to new ideas, new environments and new ways of doing things. From conversations. From trying things out.
Not just from sitting with your thoughts going in circles.
Especially for public sector leaders, uncertainty about your own future can feel overwhelming and threatening. You’re used to knowing what you’re doing. Being competent. Having direction.
So when that disappears, it can feel like you’re doing something wrong.
But you’re not. You’re in a different phase. A phase where the goal isn’t to perform. It’s to explore.
3 Tips to Navigate Overwhelm when Changing Your Public Sector Career
Here are three things that make a difference.
1. Small, low-risk action: Not big decisions. Small steps: One conversation. One idea explored. One new perspective.
2. Staying connected: To people, not just your own thoughts. Conversations ground you. They expand what you can see.
3. Regulating your nervous system: Because uncertainty and overwhelm isn’t just mental. It’s physical. If your body is in a stress response, everything feels harder. Simple things matter: Going for a walk. Slowing down. Creating moments of calm.
Uncertainty isn’t a sign you’re off track. It’s a sign you’ve stepped out of the known. And that’s where change actually happens.
Instead of trying to figure everything out at once and feeling overwhelmed by it all, ask yourself:
- What’s one small step you can take this week?
That’s enough. Your path becomes visible as you begin to walk.
Until next time: take space, rediscover YOU, and then take action.