Here's One Way to Do It

I didn’t draw up a list of pros and cons before quitting my corporate job. It was literally a gut feeling.

At 13 I thought to myself, “In the year 2000, I’ll be 33 and by then I will be married with two kids and a house somewhere”.  It was a bit of a flat thought in looking back at it – there was no vivid color it, it was more of a resignation as to what will most-likely be.  I was far more impressed with the idea of living in a new century.

When the clock struck midnight and we delved into the year 2000, I was actually surfing waves every day in Central America with Tristan.  No kids, no house, no marriage, and loving my life.  I had left a position at a Fortune 500 company a couple of years prior to that and had decided that I didn’t want the company matched 401K, the 9a – 5p childcare, and the on-campus gym.  I thought I had wanted all that after working as a ‘perma-lancer’ for two+ years and had believed that the end-all-be-all would be a full-time staff position. When that opportunity presented itself, I accepted it and then handed in my resignation 4 weeks later. 

It wasn’t that I didn’t want the job at first; and the security – I wanted both a lot.  But I had what can only be described as a visceral reaction: to the reduced paycheck since now that I had “benefits” my checks were smaller; to the fact that I was hired at the same level that I had been at for 2 years, not at the next level that I had earned; and bottom line - to the idea that I felt owned.  Unlike most of the decisions I have made in my life, there was no contemplation and no drawing up a list of pros and cons, I knew it so clearly even though I was surprised by my feelings, but there was no question about it.  I felt a physical sensation in my stomach, it was literally a gut feeling that I could not ignore and I didn’t.  I decided I would do the same work as a freelancer and I quit, (though I gave 4 weeks notice and wrote a processes manual for the next person coming in to fill my position – because it has always mattered that I leave a clean trail behind me!)

And then I went surfing in Costa Rica with my sweetie for the next 3 months. 

And in the meantime, I did my homework and leveraged the connections I had and made inroads to freelance as a production coordinator working on corporate events; I had given myself a well-earned promotion and it paid off.  As I continued to work for more companies and clients, I moved myself up to associate producer, project manager and then found my specialty as a content producer which is my niche and which I love.

Flash forward to now – it is the year 2009 and I have worked for 32 more Fortune 500 companies.  I mountain bike and trail run every day with Tristan, who is now my husband of 10 years this fall; we bought our first house on a 1/3 of an acre and built Tristan’s dream shop and moved from the beaches and desserts of Southern Cal to the rivers and trees in the foothills of the Sierras of Northern California.  We have a cat not a kiddo.  We work for ourselves.  Yes, we experience uncertainties and the doubt that comes with being human, but in choosing the way we want to live over lives - on our terms - feels really good and very 21^st century.