Tiffany Raiford
Quitting your job and starting over: OMG. It sounds terrifying. Hey, it is. But guess what? Sometimes it’s the best thing that ever happened to you. Want to know a bit of a secret? When I was 25, I quit my job doing taxes. I was 29 weeks pregnant with my husband and I’s first child. I was going to stay home. I did not love my job. I was stressed and I wanted to be a mom. It took me all of 6 months to realize that staying home with a baby that slept all day was not for me. I’m efficient and organized and a neat freak, so there was never anything for me to do. I don’t like television enough to sit down and watch it that much. I love to read, but I’d read just about every book in existence at that point – twice – and I never had anything to clean or wash or organize since I’m a minimalist who never lets things get messy. I was bored. I’d always loved to write, so I decided that I’d go back to school, take some classes that might help me with that career and get started.
Fast forward 7 years and here I am, sitting in my home office writing while my oldest daughter is in 1st grade and my 4-year-old is in school and my 1-year-old twins are napping. My husband has a great career, and he does well, but we do have four kids so for me working is something that I not only love, but that ensures we can care for a small army. It seems that even though I was terrified to quit my job, it worked out. I had no idea I’d start over with a new career at any point after that. I thought I was going to be a soccer mom, but it turns out that I wanted to be a soccer mom and a writer. I took a chance, put myself out there and did what I always really wanted to do. I followed my dreams and let my passion take over, and now here I am doing what I love and enjoying it immensely. The lesson here, the moral of my story, if you will, is that change is a terrifying you-know-what, but you can make it the most exciting and amazing thing that ever happened to you. That said, here are 10 amazing life lessons you can learn by quitting your job and starting over.
What People Think Does not Matter
When you make a change like this in your life, people are going to look at you like you’ve lost your mind. They are going to judge and tell you that you’re crazy. It’s important to remember that this does not matter – you’ll learn this eventually, but keep reminding yourself. There is no right or wrong way to live life, so don’t let them tell you otherwise.
The Right Time Does not Exist
It really just does not. If you sit around waiting for the perfect time to do something or be something, you’re going to miss a lot of opportunities. Do it not; it’s as right a time as any if you sit back and think about it like that. Do it now, you won’t regret your decision.
You’ll Feel Liberated
Being in charge of your own life and making a big decision like this is something that liberates you. It makes you feel good and it makes you feel empowered. It’s a nice feeling, and it’s one you will learn you do not want to lose. You’ll do whatever it takes from this point forward to liberate yourself, and that’s kind of awesome.
You’ll Feel Motivated
There is no motivation like the fear of failure and the need to take care of your life. You’ll learn motivation quickly and efficiently, and you will then be able to live your life more accordingly and more successfully. Trust me, it’s a feeling that you want to keep forever.
You Create Your Own Circumstances
Opportunity knocks on occasion, but opportunity also answers the door if you go seek it out and make sure you find it first. You don’t have to wait. You can make your own opportunities and your own goals. It’s one of those life lessons you’ll learn from quitting your job and starting over in a new path.
You are in Charge of Your Life
You are the boss, and you make the rules. It’s not something you really realize until you’ve been in a situation that allows you to think this and make it a reality. You make the rules. Your life can be as amazing or as simple as you want your life to be.
Change is Not as Bad as it Seems
Change is something we all fear at some point in our lives, but someone once said something great like, “Great things never come from comfort zones,” or something to that effect. And that is very true. You will never make great things happen if you try to stick with your comfort zone and make things happen in that manner.
You Have to be Disciplined
You cannot be in control of your own destiny if you are not disciplined. You have to have the discipline and the motivation to make things happen, and you have to be able to do it on a schedule. You will learn that a lack of disciplines does not make for a very successful life.
Failure is a Lesson
Failure is not wonderful, but it’s nowhere near as awful as you like to think that it is. In fact, failure is one of the most valuable teachers you will ever have throughout the course of your life. It is something that is going to teach you far more than you ever thought possible. It’s going to teach you more than you ever needed to know and more than you ever wanted to know, and it’s going to do it well.
There is Never Enough Time
Once you are in charge of your own life, you will quickly learn that there is nothing like time. Unfortunately, it’s that there’s not enough of it. You will never have enough hours in the day or days in the week or time to get it all done. It’s just life, so deal with it.
Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images
Comments
Loading…