A Week Later

I have been out here for a week and so far it feels amazing to be actively in pursuit of a more fulfilled life. As I’ve said before, finding fulfillment does not necessarily mean quitting your job, but for me it does and I’m cool with that. And to have actually made the leap has helped to alleviate some of the fear, stress and anxiety of it all. Now I just have to deal with it.

When I mention to people that I’ve quit, they usually respond by saying, “Congratulations,” like I’ve just had a child or something. It throws me for a loop every time. Those who are a good 20 to 30 years older than me are especially enthused. They often mention how much they embraced the ideas of “do, accomplish, earn and keep” at the expense of living more fully. So maybe I’m doing something right. Only time will tell.

I miss my friends at work. It is amazing how a day-in day-out routine blinds us to the fact that we, as humans, are sharing time and space together in the workplace. We subtly become involved in each other’s lives and stories, but much of that is put on the back burner and not looked at until it’s time to part ways. Human emotion is squelched and we are encouraged to disengage emotionally from each other for fear of lawsuits and code violations. Screw that. Give your friend and co-worker a hug; or at least some word of appreciation, validation and encouragement.

And please don’t do it in an e-mail.

Lastly, let me put a myth to rest: I Do Not Have A Lot More Free Time!

I cannot stress this enough. Every voice mail and e-mail I receive contains the phrase, “… now that you have all this free time on your hands.” I am just as busy as I was before, mainly because I was simultaneously juggling other projects outside of work. The difference now is having the 8:30 to 5:00 time frame with which to deal with them; which they have gladly infiltrated.

Not every day is jam packed mind you. There have been one or two days where I have had time to read, exercise, post on this site and nap. And the days that begin by taking Mojo to the dog beach for an hour are especially nice. But there are still things to do in regards to the aforementioned projects and one of the hardest things I am adapting to is creating a structure within which to work on them when said structure is not automatically provided.

The weekend is upon us. Enjoy it. Do something you might not normally do that you really want to do. Let me know how it goes.

Adios.