The magnetic poles always shift, fast enough for the yearly movement to be counted in kilometres (or miles, depending on whose charts you use).
There are events called "magnetic excursions" and "magnetic reversals" that happen from time to time. The last event was the Laschamp excursion (41,000 years ago) during which there was a temporary reversal that lasted a couple of centuries. The reversal was "fast" in that it only took four or five centuries.
There are no natural disasters associated with these event. No extinction of species, no sudden irradiation of all life. At most, scientists have detected a slight increase in the content of Carbon-14 in the atmosphere and beryllium-10 in the soil, in layers corresponding to this event.
These magnetic events begin when the value of the "magnetic moment" drops below 4 units (on a 0-10 scale, where 10 is the maximum magnetic moment of Earth's field). Once the event is over, the field resets itself to 10 units and the decay begins until the next time the value reaches 4.
The value was reset to 10 after the Laschamp event (41,000 years ago, or so) and it is presently a bit above 7. It is continuing to decay so that the next event could be "as soon as" a few thousand years from now.
When compared to Earth's history, a few thousand years from now is, indeed, "soon". But it is not for next week.