How do you decide when you need to change something of significance in your life? Do you get a feeling low down in your stomach? Or is it a more mental, mulling-over process?<\/p>\n

For me, it\u2019s a full body experience. The pending change typically manifests as an idea in my head. It is then supplemented by a head-to-toe feeling of either excitement or anxiety, depending on whether it\u2019s a change that I look forward to or one that seems frightening at first. If the latter, I tend to ignore the signals for a little while. I try to convince myself that I\u2019ll get over whatever brain-butterflies I have and don\u2019t need to listen to them.<\/p>\n

But then something happens; the butterflies move to my gut. When they arrive, I know that they mean business. It is the sign that change is afoot, and I can either fight it longer (which, honestly, I often try to do) or I can accept it. I\u2019ve realized that the longer I ignore the little creatures, the more furious they flutter, acting as if they are at odds with each other within the small pit of my stomach.<\/p>\n

On the flip side, the moment that I decide to accept what the flaps of the wings are telling me, they relax. Rather than zip inside me in a nervous pattern, they beat solidly, strongly, and together. They lift me up.<\/p>\n

I can tell you that my body has won out every single time I\u2019ve made a significant life choice; from where to move to, which job to take, who to date, marry, when to quit said job, I have 100% listened to my gut. Not always when the butterflies first showed up, but eventually I did. And so far, they haven\u2019t failed me. I\u2019ve floated off of each and every cliff they\u2019ve carried me to.<\/p>\n

So I ask you now, what is your body telling you? And if you\u2019re feeling butterflies, what\u2019s holding you back from listening to them?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

After effectively retiring in the fall of 2014 from her corporate career running operations for a high-growth healthcare start-up company, Meghan Bollenback reinvented her professional life by becoming a writer and creative in Washington, D.C. \u00a0You can join Meghan as she navigates this new stage by following her blog www.megbollenback.com<\/a>, where she discusses the process of intentionally crafting a valuable and joyful career.<\/em>\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

How do you decide when you need to change something of significance in your life? Do you get a feeling low down in your…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":2133,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[405],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"http:\/\/www.cakenwhiskey.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Meghan-edit1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.cakenwhiskey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1853"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.cakenwhiskey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.cakenwhiskey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.cakenwhiskey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.cakenwhiskey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1853"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"http:\/\/www.cakenwhiskey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1853\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2419,"href":"http:\/\/www.cakenwhiskey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1853\/revisions\/2419"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.cakenwhiskey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2133"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.cakenwhiskey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1853"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.cakenwhiskey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1853"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.cakenwhiskey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1853"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}