3 Ways to Feel Cozy and at Peace While You Make a Big Change

28 Oct

Written By Katherine Maxwell

3 Ways to Feel Cozy and at Peace While You Make a Big Change

by Kate Maxwell

“Finding peace doesn’t mean standing still. It means creating safety as you grow.”

Career change doesn’t have to feel like an existential rollercoaster.

In this episode, I share three gentle, practical ways to bring more calm, comfort, and control into your transition.

You’ll learn how to catch your thinking traps, stay in your stretch zone, and celebrate growth so you don’t burnout.

For anyone craving a softer, steadier path to change 🌸

SPOTIFY | APPLE

Timestamps

00:00 – The confession that sparked this episode

01:04 – Stop your brain’s thinking traps

03:28 – Comfort vs. Stretch vs. Panic

06:17 – Cozy rewards and why you need them

08:32 – How to make peace part of your progress

Let’s create your own cozy career change, check out how here.

Full Transcript

I was talking to someone recently about their career change process, and they said to me that they were finding it hard to enjoy the journey.

So I wanted to do an episode that addresses that a little bit — because career change can be really draining. You’re doing a lot of reflection and introspection, a lot of questioning, and really big things are changing.

That can be destabilising. It can be exhausting and scary. It’s a lot.

So I wanted to share three ways to help you feel cozy and at peace while you’re doing this work of redirecting and rerouting your career.

I think it is possible to enjoy the journey — as cheesy as that sounds — and these are three useful ways you might go about doing that.

I’m your host, Kate Maxwell. I’m an expert at coaching media and tech pros wanting to choose a new career direction.
This show exists to give you that extra support as you take the leap — with pep talks, tools, and techniques. This is Blueprints to Becoming.

1. Spot Your Thinking Traps

If you want to feel cozier and more at peace as you make a big career change, start by spotting your thinking traps.

If you’ve been in therapy — especially cognitive behavioural therapy — you might already know about these.
If not, here’s a quick recap.

In CBT, we talk about nine defined thinking traps (also called cognitive distortions). These are patterns our brain goes into that distort reality in really unhelpful ways — and we can get stuck in them.

I’m not going to go through all nine because they’re not all relevant to career change, but here are a few that are:

Fortune telling: trying to predict the future.
This might sound like, “AI is going to take my job and the whole job market is screwed.”
We don’t actually know what’s going to happen. Yes, we can be informed and educated about the future, but staying stuck in negative predictions won’t help you make grounded choices today.
Black-and-white thinking: only seeing extremes or binaries.
“I can only do this job or that job.”
Unhelpful. Life — and career — is rarely that binary.
Overestimating danger: assuming the worst and over-calculating risk.
Come back to the facts of today. Ground yourself in what you actually know.
Catastrophising: spiralling into worst-case scenarios.

If you’re interested in thinking traps, have a Google — there’s loads of great info online.

“Thinking traps are the enemy of coziness and feeling at peace.”

The more you become aware of your thinking traps as they happen, the more you’ll be able to exist in a cozier, calmer state of mind.

2. Stay in Your Stretch Zone, Not Your Panic Zone

My second tip for feeling cozy and at peace while you make a big change: stay in your stretch zone, not your panic zone.

When we’re growing, learning, or stepping into something new, it helps to think of three zones:

Comfort zone — where things are familiar and safe, but growth doesn’t happen.
Stretch zone — just outside comfort; where growth happens.
Panic zone — too far out; where you hit fight, flight, or freeze mode.

Ultimate coziness is staying in your comfort zone, but we’re not here for that — you’re listening to this show because you want to grow.

So stay in your stretch zone, where you’re pushing yourself but still feel safe.
Avoid the panic zone, where the gap between what you know and what’s required feels too big.

“Make everything 400% smaller — that’s where calm lives.”

A good tip: make everything 400% smaller.
Shrink whatever task you’re tackling into something bite-sized.

That way, you’re still stretching — but not spiralling into “Can I even cope?” or “I should never have tried this.”

You don’t have to solve everything at once.

3. Reward Yourself (Cozy-Style)

Before we get to this final part, if you wish you could feel more at peace during this process — to find enjoyment in the journey — we can work on that together inside my one-on-one intensive, Charted.

Charted is the coaching program for media and tech pros who want to find a clear sense of direction for the next stage of their career.

Over six weeks, you’ll have access to one-on-one coaching with me, plus tools and frameworks to transform uncertainty into a plan of action — supported by cozy, gentle rest that helps you step into your new chapter.

If you’re interested, all the details are in the episode description.

Now, onto the final step: rewarding yourself.

Do you reward yourself?

Seriously — do you?
Or do you achieve something and then move straight on to the next thing without ever celebrating?

If that’s you, please — I beseech you — give yourself a celebration.

A little celebration goes a long way.

“A little celebration goes a long way — trust me.”

It’s one of the key parts of my Five I Framework that I use with clients — integration.
To really embed the learning, we celebrate the learning.

When we put ourselves out there, try, and learn — it’s worth celebrating.

And those celebrations can be cozy and peaceful, too:

Making a really delicious hot drink and savouring it.
Reading in bed — heavenly.
Being in nature and taking a deep breath of fresh air.

They’re small things, but they bring rest, warmth, and grounding — and can be framed as celebration.

So think about what coziness means for you.
What makes you feel safe, soothed, and soft after doing the hard things?

“Finding peace doesn’t mean standing still. It means creating safety as you grow.”

Finding ways to feel at peace doesn’t mean you’re avoiding growth.
It means you’re creating safety and nurturing yourself while you grow.

At the end of the day, that’s what this is all about — being gentle with yourself while taking intentional, forward-facing action.

Wrapping Up

So, to recap — here are your three ways to feel cozy and at peace while making a big change:

Spot your thinking traps. Notice when your brain’s distorting the truth.
Stay in your stretch zone, not your panic zone. Growth happens at the edge, not the cliff.
Reward yourself. Celebrate small wins with cozy, nurturing rituals.

Finding peace in the middle of growth makes it sustainable. It keeps you from burning out, from expecting yourself to have all the answers right now, or from wishing you could just be there already.

Learning to look after yourself along the way will serve you so much more than racing to the finish line.

If you’d like to explore this work on a personal level, you can find details about my one-on-one coaching program, Charted, in the show notes.

Next week’s episode? It’s all about feeling like you need to prove yourself.
I’m looking forward to that one — I’ll see you there.

I’m in your corner. You’ve got this. 💙

* This blog post was co-created with AI, using my transcript. My aim is for the blog to be as verbatim as possible, so you’re in contact with me not the robots! Using AI means the blog can exist in the first place so it’s a use that works for me right now!

Any thoughts, let me know!