I have changed country more than once. I have changed jobs, changed roles, changed the kind of work I do and the people I do it with. And every single time, there was a quiet fantasy running underneath the decision: that on the other side of the move, I would somehow be a slightly better version of myself. It never quite worked, of course. Jon Kabat-Zinn put it better than anyone: wherever you go, there you are.

This is worth sitting with, because the fantasy is remarkably persistent and it shows up everywhere. In each case, the diagnosis locates the problem entirely outside the self, which is comforting precisely because it means there is nothing to be done about it except change the surroundings. And so we change the surroundings, at considerable cost, and are quietly baffled when the same difficulties reassemble themselves in the new place within a season or two. The circumstances were never the whole story. We were always the constant term in the equation.

So, the honest test is this: before you change the external situation, ask what portion of the problem would follow you out the door. If the answer is "most of it", then the move will buy you a few months of novelty and very little else. The work that actually changes things is the unglamorous internal kind, and it is available to you today, in the situation you are already in, without a relocation or a resignation. That is the good news buried inside the bad. So, as a reflection for today: what are you hoping a change of scenery will fix? And what would it look like to start fixing it right where you are?