5 Signs Your Job Isn’t Aligned (And The 3 Steps Shift)
Before you read any further, let’s get real honest about one simple truth—the fact that you’re here and reading this is the only confirmation you need that your job and current moment in your career is out of alignment. You just—how to put this delicately—want an affirmation, a permission slip of an excuse to confirm what your intuition already knows.
Now, before we get into the signs you’ve hit the cosmic corporate crossroads and dive into the process of recalibration, this migraine glitch you’re experiencing in your career (whether it’s your 9-5, 5-9, 24/7, spiritual quest, or all of the above) means one of three things:
You’re deeply misaligned and this job just isn’t it—to quote our lord and savior Jojo, “Get out (leave) right now. It's the end of you and [your job].”
You’re a commitment phobe and self-help junky, looking for all of le problems to solve — the job’s fine, you’re the one who’s off.
It’s not the job, it’s that the way you’re working right now is deeply misaligned (restructure your priorities, transfer internally, or need a promotion/raise)
And maybe it’s the secret option 4 aka (D) all of the above.
Regardless, you’ve hit your breaking point and need a secret escape hatch.
At this point, you've exhausted the Reddit archives and weaseled your way through every career personality test known to humankind. Continuing to spiral into oblivion and letting your mind run rampant isn’t going to solve anything. So consider this your annual whenever you need it review and realignment so that you can stop feeling like a 7/11 bag floating through the wind, drifting through the wind, wanting to start again.
This is your official cosmic permission slip to make a real and meaningful change in your life. A literal hall pass to go visit the nurse (your Spirit Guides) so that you can take a beat, tap into your intuition, and maybe stop taking BuzzFeed quizzes about which type of bread matches your career destiny (I’ve heard through the grapevine that sourdough starters are a great guru though).
You do indeed need to do what you’re dreading.
Step out of this beautifully torturous comfort zone of complacency to seize the reigns of your life and make meaningful change so that you can stop suffering.
Like any closeted witch who’s scoured the local apothecary for a spell to exorcise their corporate demons, you’re looking for more signs.
To appease those Gaga approved “talented, brilliant, incredible, amazing, show stopping, spectacular, never the same, totally unique, completely not ever been done before” thought gremlins running amuck in your mind, you need to make sure you’ve got the signs deciphered correctly.
Sign #1: Three of Corporate Doomsday Cheerleaders
You spend your days DMing your work besties like it’s your actual job (read: it’s not). Your chat history reads like a doomsday manifesto: "Maybe if we all quit at once…?" "Should we start a commune…?" "Is living in a van down by the river THAT bad…?" But you stay, because misery loves company and hey—at least you've got front row seats to watch this corporate circus burn. Right?
💬 Translation: You’re people-pleasing everyone but yourself.
Sign #2: Ten of Never-Ending Existential Dread
Your Sunday Scaries have evolved into a full-week phenomenon. You log on at 8:59am in yesterday's hoodie, mouse mover activated like a digital alibi. Your "morning routine" consists of staring at the ceiling, wondering if Mercury is perpetually retrograde or if your soul is just leaving your body.
Despite sleeping 9 hours, you're more exhausted than a Gen Z explaining the linguistic phenomenon of brain rot to their Gen X parents. It’s all an abysmal time warp of mind numbing torture has you cancelling plans, creating a permanent imprint of your body on your couch, and wondering if anything means anything.
💬 Translation: You’re beyond burnt-out.
Sign #3: Nine of Dream Job Qualification Station
Your Google Sheet of "Career Prerequisites" rivals Atlas Shrugged in length, unnecessary waxing complexity (not that you ever told your ex). You've constructed an elaborate 47-step plan to land your dream job, including "master Python by Tuesday" and "casually bump into Brene Brown at Blue Bottle."
You spend hours crafting the perfect LinkedIn bio, only to delete it all because clearly you need three more online course certifications and a TEDx headlining talk before you're qualified to update your "About" section.
💬 Translation: You’re trapped in perfectionist purgatory.
Sign #4: Five of Bare Minimum Unworthiness
Your to-do and to-don’t lists have become sentient faster than OpenAi and are maybe probably plotting Terminator level world domination (or preferably world peace if you can finesse them right).
Between dodging your manager's "quick check-ins," attending 45 minute meetings that really could’ve been emails, and explaining to your Meemaw why you can't “just walk into Christies wearing your Sunday Best and hand the receptionist your resume" you're stretched thinner than your last paycheck. The thought of adding "apply to dream job" to your task list makes you want to fake your own death and become a pygmy goatherder in New Zealand.
💬 Translation: You’re drowning in a vat of overwhelm.
Sign #5: Eight of Doom Scrolling Identity Crisis
The algorithm’s possessed your Instagram feed and turned into your ego’s personal hellscape—a highlight reel of "I'm thrilled to announce…" posts from college classmates and "My side hustle just bought me a yacht" humble brags from high school archnemeses. Meanwhile, you're calculating if you can afford both therapy AND that green juice everyone says will fix your life.
Your college roommate is now a CEO (not sure if it’s legit or a LinkedIn ploy for their Start Up), your ex is "disrupting" something in the crypto space (tracks), and here you are, wondering if being a professional nap tester is a viable career path (maybe if you prayer to the Old Gods hard enough). The imposter syndrome is so real—your imposter syndrome has imposter syndrome.
💬 Translation: You have FOMO and are stuck in shame, losing the very rigged self-blame game.
Feeling lost is not an excuse to pretend like you’re not in charge of your own destiny.
Re-Alignment Step 1: The Knight of What
Be radically honest about what you want more of in your life that you don’t currently have. Is it more money? A better team? Remote work? Different responsibilities? As much as this might feel like a psychical third eye exam that leaves you blind and dilated for 3.5 business days, uncovering what you actually want to change is the first step to creating the change you crave.
Re-Alignment Step 2: The Queen of Why
Put those thought gremlins on mute for 60 minutes and remember who you are beyond your email signature. You know what you want, but now, why do you want it? What dreamy activities and endless possibilities will appear in your life as a result? Why are they so important to you?
You need to identify the feels you’ve been shoving down and way. Humans don’t actually want things, we want the somatic experiences they give us. Like bliss, abundance, freedom, joy, love, loyalty, and connection. When you discover your why, aka your values, it will feel easier to prioritize and take action.
Re-Alignment Step 3: The Page of How
You’re going to craft your own process and there’s no single one that’s guaranteed. You’ve already scoured the career blogs, you know what steps you need to take. The important part now is doing it your own way.
So, pick one tiny minuscule action to do today that feels too easy and too simple and then do it. Tomorrow, do it again. Maybe it's finally clicking the LinkedIn bio to say Open for Opportunities. Maybe it's texting your first manager to see if they’d be open to get coffee. Or maybe it’s just filling out step 1, making a list of what you want—so you can start the recalibration process. One real step beats a 34,981 "maybe somedays".
The moment of recognition is your golden ticket to changing everything.
Here's the thing about clinging to jobs that simply aren't aligned: the longer you hold on, the more evidence you give The Universe (aka your Self) that you're incapable of making conscious decisions for yourself. Then, either your shadow self (aka The Expert Self-Sabotager) will get you fired, or your intuition will scream until you jump at the first escape hatch that appears.
You are at a pivotal moment right now where you have all the power and all the opportunity to choose the frustration and struggle of creating a better life instead of subscribing to continued suffering.
Nothing’s ever perfect, but it sure as whole feels a lot more magical when you’re holding the reigns to your chariot versus being swept up in someone else’s current.
This moment, right and here and now is your invitation to peer deep into yourself and get radically honest: "What do I actually want my career to feel like? Am I ready to release the belief that I have to struggle to be worthy? Can this be the moment I finally take the cosmic wheel?"
The path forward isn't about forcing yourself into another misaligned role or pretending everything's fine. It's about getting clear, grounded, and connected to your inner knowing.
Ready to quiet those thought gremlins and feel genuinely excited about your next move? Start with the mental clarity practices in the Empath's First Aid Kit. Because when your mind is clear, your intuition becomes your career GPS.
Remember: You're not broken or behind. You're not stuck in corporate purgatory forever. You're simply ready to write a new chapter—one that actually feels like you.
