The Door Inside the Same Room

There’s a particular heaviness that arrives before we’re ready to call it burnout. You still show up, still meet deadlines, still deliver... But you start to notice that the spark that once made you curious about your work has quietly gone out.

You tell yourself that everyone loses interest from time to time. But somewhere underneath, you know you’re running on the leftovers of old motivation. You start to wonder what it would feel like to leave, to close the door behind you and step into something new... But what? Where? You're tired of even what's become too easy, why would you want to start something that might be hard? The trouble is, leaving sometimes feels like too big a leap.

But what if the door you’re meant to open isn’t the one that takes you out of the room, but one that’s been hidden within it all along?

When Change Finds You (Before You’re Ready)

Sometimes change doesn’t wait for our readiness; it simply arrives and asks us to keep up. That’s what happened to me recently. Just as I was quietly deciding that I might be done, that perhaps my time in this particular role had run its course, new responsibilities appeared.

Normally, that sort of 'opportunity' would make things worse: "I've lost interest and now I have more to juggle, more pressure, more reason to feel trapped". But this time, something felt different. Maybe it’s because the whole organisation is shifting around me, and the instability makes my own small change seem less frightening. Or maybe it’s because the new challenge carries something creative. Something that sparks a part of me I’d almost forgotten existed.

Renewal Without Departure

It’s strange, rediscovering interest in a place you’d already mentally left. It feels almost like bumping into an old friend and realising there’s still warmth between you, despite the silence.

The new work I’ve taken on hasn’t just given me a sense of purpose and creative challenge, it’s offered me a quiet chance at redemption. Many years ago, I was given a similar challenge and didn’t handle it as well as I’d hoped. This time, I get to meet that old version of myself again, but with more experience, more patience, more resilience - and perhaps a softer kind of confidence.

Sometimes that’s what we’re really seeking when we long for change. Not escape, but the opportunity to rewrite an unfinished chapter.

When Everything’s Moving, We Can Move With the Tide

There’s something almost comforting about organisational chaos. When everything around you is shifting, it’s easier to move without guilt. You’re not the only one adapting; the entire environment is rearranging itself. The flux gives permission almost like a tide change. You’re not the only wave turning over and that shared movement, that collective uncertainty, can feel oddly safe. You don’t have to carry the change alone.

Reflection: Finding the Hidden Door

If you’ve ever felt that familiar restlessness, that creeping disinterest in something that once mattered, maybe you don’t need to run for the hills. Perhaps you just need to explore the room you’re already in, with new eyes.

Ask yourself:

• What part of me is asking for change: my creativity, my confidence, or my calm?

• Is there a corner of this role, this life, that I’ve overlooked because I assumed I already knew it too well?

• Could the renewal I crave come from shifting how I show up, rather than where I go?

Sometimes the Magic Door Isn’t Out There

The Chronicles of Narnia taught us that some doors lead to unexpected worlds, places that have been waiting quietly behind ordinary walls. Maybe work, and life, can be like that too.

The renewal we need might not be found in departure, but in discovery. A new doorway that opens not to a different place, but to a deeper one within the same space.

So if you feel stuck, don’t rush for the nearest exit. Pause. Look around. There might just be a hidden door inside the same room.