On the 30th of April 2021, I quit my corporate job to pursue writing full-time.
And it’s the scariest thing I’ve ever done in my entire life.
But deep down, I knew it was the best thing for me to do.
When we’re young, we’re shaped to take up a certain career, with money being the ultimate goal for most – but most of us don’t even have things figured out by the time we’ve earned our degrees.
Or, it’s at that point that we realize that we may have chosen the wrong path.
Not a lot of people get a second chance at pursuing an education in what they would then love to do with their lives, which often means that they find themselves stuck with either having to hustle, or get a job matching their degree.
Which can be the beginning of going deeper down a path they don’t want – or at least that’s what happened with me.
Going into varsity in 2013, I was intent on getting a qualification in Marketing Management. However, I was told that I would struggle to find a job in that industry, and so I changed my mind and pivoted to finance.
I didn’t know much about finance at the time, and I won’t lie and say I wasn’t intrigued by it as time went, but it wasn’t long before I figured out that I didn’t want to pursue a career in finance full-time.
I liked learning about it, I just didn’t want to live it.
I was halfway through my degree at the time, ready to give up, but my best friend wouldn’t let me. She was insistent in that we’d get through the degree, tears and all, and make it to the finish line.
And we did.
We graduated in May 2016, and it wasn’t long before my fellow classmates landed their jobs in the industry we’d studied in. I on the other hand, was in a complete rut, with no true prospects on the horizon.
My mum managed to get me a job where she worked, and that’s how I was pulled into the world of Media Monitoring. It was an interesting space to say the least, but also one I knew I didn’t want to see myself a part of for too long.
I was writing throughout this entire ordeal, and in 2017, I landed my first publishing deal while I was still in the media monitoring space. It was the validation I needed where my writing was involved.
And yet, I still didn’t take the leap.
2019 came with a golden opportunity for me to finally put my degree to some use as I joined a corporate company as a junior financial planner. I’d always wanted to know what working corporate would be like, simply because of the glamorization I’d seen on TV.
Alas, it wasn’t long before I found the challenge with the job and space I was in.
Being in the office space helped though. Being surrounded by people who wanted to help and see you succeed, was somewhat motivational. It really made me believe that I could conquer what I then thought was just a fear of a new environment.
But COVID19 had other plans.
In March 2020, we were sent home for the national lockdown, and a concept that had been lingering, suddenly became the most prominent thing – working from home. I loved everything about it.
Everything but the actual working.
Suddenly, I found my safe space infiltrated by that which I was previously able to run away from in the office.
I went from being able to leave my laptop and all its stresses at work, to having the ability to check my work emails at one in the morning. The never-ending anxiety and sudden longer hours doing everything but what I really wanted to, just added onto the growing hatred for what I was doing to myself.
I joked about it to my friends and family, about leaving, but I don’t think they expected me to actually leave – something that was clear from their reactions when I finally resigned in April of last year.
I realized that I only have this one life to live, and that there would never truly be a right time to take that leap. We are always convincing ourselves of the million things ‘keeping us’ from actually taking that leap.
Which just keeps us unhappy that much longer.
I finally took the leap, and I’m the happiest I’ve ever been. It’s been a little over a year, and I’m still learning more about myself and how I tackle situations, things I wasn’t even remotely exploring in the space I was in. I’m a big dreamer, so there’ll always be something I’m chasing, but that’s the best part of my now day to day life.
My decision hasn’t been without any challenges, but unlike before, these are challenges I don’t mind. There is no way of knowing what tomorrow holds for me, but an unburdened me can’t wait to see what’s on the other side. I’m finally living the life I’ve always wanted to, doing what I love the most.
I only regret not taking that leap much earlier.
And I wish this kind of peace on everyone else.
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