Escape... to where?

Imagine you are sitting on a beach directly facing the sea. You'll probably see a huge swathe of blue sky with some clouds, and below that, the blue-green sea, and closer to you, the stretch of sand (or rock).

OK, picture this as a painting … water colour, oils, crayon, whatever grabs your fancy.

Now then, imagine then a round HOLE taking up a third of the space in the middle of the painting - not a real hole, but one that is painted - which gives you a window into what lies beyond.

And... you can see, in a limited way, that it is another stretch of sky-sea-beach.

The final element in the painting is a man, walking away from Beach Scene 1, headed through the hole into Beach Scene 2.

I chanced upon one such painting years ago - I dunno who the artist is - and haven't been able to find a print of it since. If anyone reading this blog can find the painting online, let me know!

The message behind the work? Well, it's trying to say that changing one's physical location doesn't always work, for the place you are going to might give you more of the same.

Sometimes, what works is for the change to happen internally - in your head - not in your physical environment.

Wise, huh?

I have heard of humans wanting to change jobs, and some want to change jobs because, as they say, "the office politics is killing me".

Then they go look for another job, get through the round(s) of interviews fine and land the job... only to find that office politics is also there, only worse.

The thing is, you never know what it is like to work in a new place until you are actually working there, eh? The interview panel may be friendly, the salary package great, and heck, the office furniture is even in your favourite colour.

But the people, the people - they can make or break your work life if you let them.

So all you out there who are thinking of changing jobs to escape something like "office politics" might do well to consider staying and changing the landscape in your head instead.