UNITED STATES—Life. Life is full of choices America, sometimes things we want to accomplish, a lot of the time it involves us doing things that we are not so happy to do. Why is this a conversation worth having? While I think it’s common for most Americans to have situations arise in their lives where they don’t necessarily come to a crossroads, but find themselves in a situation where they have to ask “Is this the right choice to make?” I’m a firm believer it’s ok to have a conversation with yourself every so often when you start to wonder if you’re putting yourself in the right position when it comes to your career trajectory or life.

I think I see this transpire more in the world of work, but it’s so important to do it. I’m a firm believer that chasing a dream, knowing it’s attainable and seething at a dead-end job impacts your overall happiness. There are those who have been stuck at a job for years, in some cases decades and absolutely hate it. However, they stick around because what other option do they have? Some are afraid to go back to school, others fear the notion of having to start from the bottom of a company’s corporate ladder and to have to work their way to the top.

There is a lot that goes into making a career change. The one thing I would point out is if you’re constantly questioning your reasoning for staying at a job, you’re miserable, you don’t earn enough money to support the family, and you have more cons than pros, the answer might be obvious. That should be an eye-opener for most people. In my honest opinion, that’s where I would begin to start searching for another job. A lot of the time a company will use their employees to their advantage, knowing that the employee has no intent of quitting or significantly cutting their availability to change the course of things.

I have switched careers before and I have also quit jobs that I just realized weren’t going anywhere; I was stuck and it was frustrating to not see the results or the advancement that I wanted to see in my life. Is uncertainty something that scares one a bit? Without a doubt, but sometimes you have to take a risk in order to see if things will pay off.

I actually watched a very interesting documentary over the weekend regarding success and failure in the entertainment industry. It actually astonished me to realize so many people really don’t have it easy and it’s a grind, a hard grind for people to actually make a name for themselves in Hollywood, where everyone is looking to be famous. What spoke to me was hearing Steve Harvey actually say failure is important because it is through failure that you’re allowed to see success. You learn what you should not do to ensure your career trajectory stays on course. I’ve always said in life that we’re not afraid of success, we’re afraid of failure.

The thought of failing at something makes many thing they have completely lost, and that is not necessary the case. You’ve just hit a hurdle, and the question that remains is rather you’re going to jump over that hurdle or not. In the world of life, it’s all about putting yourself in a situation where you are comfortable. If you’re not at those stages of starting a family, marriage, living independently, etc., you might think failure has already transpired in life.

That is not the case, don’t sit and indulge in your bad mood. Misery loves company, so go do something to put yourself out there! That is very important America; you have to be willing to take a risk in your personal lives and personal relationships to see the results that you want. It can be scary, but sometimes the result is well worth it.