August 1, 2014 - Written by: Becky Solomon

Buyer’s Remorse

I was recently I was offered a new job. In the seconds that followed the words, ‘We would love to have you join us’, I felt pure elation.

Finally, after two years of ploughing away with job applications and working ridiculously underpaid jobs, someone was willing to give me a chance at something I genuinely wanted to do – hurrah!

The weekend after was spent revelling in my achievement. I was proud and thought I deserved to be. When it came to telling my work that I was going to leave, something very strange happened. I started to feel nervous and wasn’t sure if I had made the right decision.

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I hadn’t expected to get the job. I thought the interview had gone badly and what would happen if I was offered it hadn’t even crossed my mind. It wasn’t in my city, which would mean commuting or moving, when I was finally feeling settled where I was. There was a genuine worry creeping in that this wasn’t the right thing.

The reaction at work was very supportive. Everyone said it was well deserved and wished me the best of luck, whilst, in my head, I was screaming: ‘No… I don’t want to leave, please keep me here!!’

And then someone stopped and asked me how I was feeling about it.

‘Erm… I’m not sure I really want to leave’, I admitted.

‘Hey, it’s perfectly natural to feel like that! It’s called buyer’s remorse. It’s just a big commitment to something new, so everything you were used to starts looking perfect and as though there was never anything wrong’.

That was exactly it. The sense of dread after making a significant commitment to something. I was reminiscing about my comfort zone through rose tinted spectacles.

Why did I want that to change? It was easy, comfortable and familiar! The great unknown has the potential to be all sorts of crap that I’m not sure I want to find out about.

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Suddenly, my old job looked spectacular, the town I live in, beautiful, and the people I worked with, like my best friends. What on earth had possessed me to apply for another job?!

And then came the gentle push I needed:

‘You will have such a good time! It is such a cool, fun place to be. And just remind yourself why you did it in the first place‘.

Don’t you just love those people who can clear everything up for you in a matter of words?

I reminded myself that, as much as my buyer’s remorse would have me believe that I applied for that job on a whim with no real reason, it just wasn’t true. There was a sequence of events leading up to it which made me question whether I would be valued more at another company.

Sometimes you just have to take the leap.

Sure, the timing was less than convenient; the commute isn’t exactly a barrel of laughs. But the point is, you have to try things – I mean actually try things and not just imagine what they would be like – to truly know what you want.

So, if you’re going for something new or making a big commitment, whether it’s a relationship commitment, buying a house, changing jobs, deciding to go on that year away, remember that the niggling nervousness in the back of your mind is completely normal. Remember, you are making the right decision to give it a go.

If you enjoyed this article, why not check out ‘3 Tips on How to Stand on the Brink of the Unknown (Without Shitting Your Pants)‘?