Complacency: a Good Witch, or a Bad Witch?

 As a recovering workaholic, I always think I can do more.

“What if I woke up at 4 instead of 5 am…”

“I wish I had more energy at the end of the day.”

“Is my part-time job stunting my bigger picture?”

Clearly, my body is still storing the stress from my last few deadline-driven jobs. Does it even know how to relax? The very nature of being a journalist can really drive a “never good enough” mentality: There’s always one more source you could have called, one more tweak you could have made to the text, or maybe some last photo cropping that would have made the subject really pop.

“Complacency” has such a negative connotation in my world. But as I learned this week, it is actually not synonymous with “laziness.”

Mind: blown.

During my recent efforts to stop my life’s cycle of work, work, work, burn out…take a year or two off…repeat, I’ve been real relaxed.

I read books as if I’m in retirement, travel, work out at 10 am instead of 6 am, answer emails when I get around to it. I recently talked to someone who is also “between jobs,” and man, was his energy different. Think spreadsheets and a wired energy that I simply don’t have right now.

My old thoughts came rushing back: Am I doing enough?

I’m so complacent right now; it simply feels so great to not be overworked, under-appreciated and exhausted. But I started to wonder if that was inhibiting me from going after my “next big change.”

My wise life coach Stef reminded me that I’ve said many times that I want my next era to not be as stressed out as my previous ones. “You manifest something different by being different,” she countered. “Allow yourself to adapt to change and become a vibrational match to the energy you want to attract.”

Could it be that by forcing my stress-riddled body to unwind over time, I might actually be setting myself up for success? For a life I’ve always wanted?

“It might be that your immediate focus is to create a steady flow and balance in your life,” Stef advised. “Is there anything wrong with feeling complacent right now? It seems you were complacent [to stay] for years in a soul-sucking job. I don’t believe this complacency is holding you back—it may very well be preparing you for the next big change.”

And just like that, I redefined what I once thought—truly believed—was a bad word.