Which of the following two scenarios scares you more?

1. A law practice that is making no money anymore and one that you have no interest in or motivation to do anything about because you’re so bored with it, the clients, and the area of law.

or

2. Starting over from scratch.

That’s the dilemma one of my readers presented to me.

For me, the answer is easy. I’m more frightened by the first scenario. I’m constantly reminded of the saying “enjoy life, this is not a dress rehearsal” that some people live by. My father died in his mid-fifties; my grandfather died even earlier. I’m 51 now, having had a heart attack at 37. I’m not interested in being miserable.

I understand how scary it is to start over from scratch.

There’s loss—boatloads of loss—when we start over.

• We lose our sense of identity.
• We lose our income.
• We put our dependents at risk.
• We lose our status in the community.
• We feel adrift when we give it all up.

But what do we lose when we stick with something we hate? Something that is making us miserable? Something we just can’t face anymore?

We lose more, much more, by sticking with what we’ve got.

Yep, change is scary. However, this is not a dress rehearsal. This is your life.