This June will mark 10 years that I've worked in Corporate America. I lucked out and landed a great job two weeks after graduating college, and I've been working ever since. Now, 10 years later, I've decided to look at my life and ask myself if this is really what I was meant to do?!
When you're young you're taught to study, work hard, get good grades so you can get a good job. Continue working hard, fall in love, get married, have kids and get a house with a white picked fence and golden retriever. That's the American way, right? The American Dream so they call it. But how many people actually enjoy that package deal? How many people are only in this whirlwind because that's what they're supposed to do?! Think about it. Most of us have a job that we tolerate so we can enjoy life outside of work, right? That doesn't sound too bad. Some of us may actually love our jobs - and I envy those people! But what about the large percentage of folks that are lost in the day to day pattern of their life - living a life they think they should be living versus one they WANT to live?
Last year I experienced the second layoff of my career but was lucky enough to get a nice severance package. Thankfully I had money coming in to pay for my bills - not having that worry was amazing! But I had a weird realization. I felt like I was finally LIVING. I could hear birds chirping. I could see the changes taking place in the city around me. I could SEE and FEEL more, all the little things. I was finally able to slow down the repetition and actually see and feel what was going on around me. You would think having a great paying job would give you the necessary tools and means to be "happy." But no - not the case with me. My whole career I've been somewhat unfulfilled, and here I had been laid off - my future uncertain - and I finally felt like I was REALLY LIVING.
Fast forward a year, I've landed almost the exact same job at another company. OK - I'm happy to be employed! Wahooo! But for some reason each day was getting harder for me to accept. I was becoming more and more frustrated with the typical jobs duties I would blast through in no time. On top of that I was going through a "breakup" with someone I felt I knew from a past life - the deepest connection I had ever experienced with anyone ever before. WHY IS THIS HAPPENING TO ME? The life I was living didn't make sense anymore. I never felt so lost, broken, but yet so passionate and eager to make my life purposeful. But HOW could I do this? This was my moment of awakening. I was broken down to the bone, and that was when I felt my greatest strength and purpose. I couldn't hide it anymore. I couldn't fake it anymore either. I was forced to be real with myself. To look at myself inside and out and truly force myself to make a choice - to choose to live right by my heart.
A lot of the struggles and pain we go through actually help direct us to our purpose, to what's REAL in our hearts, to what makes us happy. Blessings in disguise some like to call it. As heartbroken and confused as I was, I am SO thankful for going through that. Those combination of events erupted a passion and love inside of me that I could not deny. As I started making decisions to redirect my future I felt as if I was chipping away at the clay mold of excess I had gradually built up over time. It's such an emotional experience to completely change the way you've always done things. But with that comes equal bliss and freedom. I've never been so happy to get ride of all my junk! I feel so much more free and aware of how I had been piling on "things" this whole time that really weren't meaningful to me. But I had to go through those hardships to really see and understand ME - to learn what's really important to me.
It's never too late to live happily ever after. It's never too late to start over. It's never to late to do what you love. Live passionately. Live fearlessly. Be courageous. You just have to do it! Otherwise - how much time will you allow to pass before you are finally ready to take charge of your life - the life YOU want? If you wait for the perfect time it will never arrive.
Fear paralyses so many things, so many opportunities.
Think about the life you want to live, and go out and live it!
That is what I am finally doing, now. :)
When you're young you're taught to study, work hard, get good grades so you can get a good job. Continue working hard, fall in love, get married, have kids and get a house with a white picked fence and golden retriever. That's the American way, right? The American Dream so they call it. But how many people actually enjoy that package deal? How many people are only in this whirlwind because that's what they're supposed to do?! Think about it. Most of us have a job that we tolerate so we can enjoy life outside of work, right? That doesn't sound too bad. Some of us may actually love our jobs - and I envy those people! But what about the large percentage of folks that are lost in the day to day pattern of their life - living a life they think they should be living versus one they WANT to live?
Last year I experienced the second layoff of my career but was lucky enough to get a nice severance package. Thankfully I had money coming in to pay for my bills - not having that worry was amazing! But I had a weird realization. I felt like I was finally LIVING. I could hear birds chirping. I could see the changes taking place in the city around me. I could SEE and FEEL more, all the little things. I was finally able to slow down the repetition and actually see and feel what was going on around me. You would think having a great paying job would give you the necessary tools and means to be "happy." But no - not the case with me. My whole career I've been somewhat unfulfilled, and here I had been laid off - my future uncertain - and I finally felt like I was REALLY LIVING.
Fast forward a year, I've landed almost the exact same job at another company. OK - I'm happy to be employed! Wahooo! But for some reason each day was getting harder for me to accept. I was becoming more and more frustrated with the typical jobs duties I would blast through in no time. On top of that I was going through a "breakup" with someone I felt I knew from a past life - the deepest connection I had ever experienced with anyone ever before. WHY IS THIS HAPPENING TO ME? The life I was living didn't make sense anymore. I never felt so lost, broken, but yet so passionate and eager to make my life purposeful. But HOW could I do this? This was my moment of awakening. I was broken down to the bone, and that was when I felt my greatest strength and purpose. I couldn't hide it anymore. I couldn't fake it anymore either. I was forced to be real with myself. To look at myself inside and out and truly force myself to make a choice - to choose to live right by my heart.
A lot of the struggles and pain we go through actually help direct us to our purpose, to what's REAL in our hearts, to what makes us happy. Blessings in disguise some like to call it. As heartbroken and confused as I was, I am SO thankful for going through that. Those combination of events erupted a passion and love inside of me that I could not deny. As I started making decisions to redirect my future I felt as if I was chipping away at the clay mold of excess I had gradually built up over time. It's such an emotional experience to completely change the way you've always done things. But with that comes equal bliss and freedom. I've never been so happy to get ride of all my junk! I feel so much more free and aware of how I had been piling on "things" this whole time that really weren't meaningful to me. But I had to go through those hardships to really see and understand ME - to learn what's really important to me.
It's never too late to live happily ever after. It's never too late to start over. It's never to late to do what you love. Live passionately. Live fearlessly. Be courageous. You just have to do it! Otherwise - how much time will you allow to pass before you are finally ready to take charge of your life - the life YOU want? If you wait for the perfect time it will never arrive.
Fear paralyses so many things, so many opportunities.
Think about the life you want to live, and go out and live it!
That is what I am finally doing, now. :)
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