Getting rid of… Responsibilities

In addition to the difficulty in letting go of physical possessions, there is also resistance to letting go of non-physical things that I have “taken ownership of”. In this case, job responsibilities. Taking ownership of a problem at work means not passing it on to anyone else, and following through to make sure it is resolved.

My job is going to change soon – the current job function is being phased out so I applied for and was hired to a new position at the same company.   It hasn’t started yet and I’m still doing the “old” job every day.  Thinking about the training I’ll have to go through for the new job is overwhelming because it seems like my workload is about to double.  Of course I know at some level that when I start the new job I won’t have to continue the old one.  But I have taken ownership of my current job function and feel responsible for the work.

There is a parallel between choosing to be responsible for a task or process at work, and choosing to buy a possession and being responsible for it’s use, maintenance and disposal.

I must allow myself to release these feelings of ownership of my old job tasks.  I’m sure it will be fine after I actually start my training, but for someone like me who has trouble getting rid of things, it may be a stressful transition.