Trenches and Change

I need to make some serious changes to my life.  I am in a rut - and what is worse, the rut seems to be settling in deeper and deeper.

How did I get here - Oh, the usual way I suppose. There are large landmarks that are defined in one's life - work, family, activities.  These landmarks become the thing by which our day becomes linked, and then our days linked into weeks.  To and from, back and forth, the path remains the same as the line of traffic gets driven deeper and deeper into the ground. 

Suddenly you look up and realize that the path has reached the point that the edges are over your head.  You have wondered why you cannot ever seem to break out of the rut and you become aware that when you are marching body level through a trench the chances of turning off suddenly become very rare indeed.  And still you pound down the rut day after day, hoping for something that will be something different even as you tacit acknowledge by your choice of paths it never will be.

A trench. I had never thought of that terminology until now but that is quite accurate - and more alarming.  Ruts are small sounding things, things we trip over and step out of.  Trenches are deep and far more forboding.

How do we step out of trenches?  It is, unfortunately, much more like the trench warfare of World War I - one has to climb out of the trench and start down a new path (although hopefully not with shells going off).   It obviously takes a great deal more effort than a simple rut - but then again if you have building something for years it is not surprising that it will take longer to rectify the issue.

So here I sit at 0600, realizing that I need to make some serious changes but having no real idea how to go about implementing those changes.

How does one choose a change?  Where does one choose to climb out of a trench?