Sage Advice

You will be the same person twenty years from now if not for the people you meet, the books you read and places you travel.

I already know the people...time to go read some books and see some places.

Kaleidoscoping

You know when you look into a kaleidoscope and all of the colors and images keep shifting and moving everytime you turn it? How the shapes change and you can make out certain figures, but not others? How depending on what you ultimately want to see, you will? Or, maybe when you look into it you don't know what to expect, and half the fun is in trying to find the best, most absolutely amazing combination of shapes and colors that is humanly possible, so you point it in every direction possible trying to come up with that strikingly beautiful collision of imagery.

Last week I decided to approach my life the same way. So I quit my job.

Yeah. I did it. Mmmmhmmm. It was equal parts scary, sad, exciting, fulfilling, anxiety-inducing, invigorating, awesome, panic-stricken, refreshing, stupid and brilliant.

When it comes down to it, we are the only people that can control our own destiny. The burden of debt that any person faces (including myself) is only as debilitating as you allow it to be. At the end of the day, doing what you love is more important than doing something just for the sake of complacency or safety. Do I panic at the thought of not having a steady paycheck, and having to actually hustle to pay my bills? Yes, of course. Who wouldn't? But still, I also panic at the thought of sitting at a desk in front of a staring unblinking into monitor in a fluorescent lit office for the next 30 years.

So, when do you decide to take the leap? For me, it ultimately became a (after a long few weeks of consideration and waffling) 'Why not now?' scenario. There's a reason certain cliches exist, such as 'no time like the present', 'carpe diem', 'jump and the net will appear'  and blahdey blah blah 'life goes on' and blah blah.

But it's true - we all have to acknowledge our own personal tipping points. I've done a lot of reading over the past several months about all of these amazing people who have taken career breaks or revamped their lifestyles completely to pursue a location independent career. What the crap is that and I want it now. So, had I not made this decision now, I think the alternative could have only been never...a situation I wasn't prepared to find myself in.

I'm taking the approach that this magical net will appear. When and where, and in what form -- frankly, who cares because it will be better than the tangled mess I was in, laboring away towards a goal I wasn't even sure I wanted.

viva un vida loca, my friends...now go find your tipping point, and cross your fingers for that net!