I quit my job end of February this year. After 8.7 years working at a communications consultancy (which, more or less, equals to 26 corporate years), I decided to retire.
May last year, I turned thirty. Some said it was actually the appropriate age to start settling down, have a good career, and secure more money for the future. Sometimes, I think so, too. But most of the times, I don’t think I should.
Leaving the Comfort Zone
I have spent my 20s working–climbing the ladder from a junior PR associate to senior communications consultant, from Digital Division Head to Creative Director. And I loved those days I spent with bosses I respect, colleagues I admire, and clients I like; learning everything I had always wanted to know about and working on projects and campaigns I was proud of. But after 8.7 years (which, again, equals to 26 corporate years), it started to feel like a comfort zone.
Which was nice–actually, and I had nothing to complain about. But there was something about being inside my comfort zone that made me feel restless.
I knew that I just needed to step out to the uncharted territory and challenge myself once again: so that I could gain new perspectives, reap new experiences, and learn new sets of lessons.
I know I have always wanted to create beautiful things and make meanings in the world–either in the form of a prose, an article, a photograph, a movie, a speech, a workshop, or even a simple 12-line poetry.
By dedicating my thirties to do this instead, I’m stepping out of my comfort zone.
To live a life I have always dreamed of since I was a little girl.
Choose the Life You Want
But I can’t quit my job, a friend told me when she heard about my ‘retirement’.
Please don’t get me wrong. I don’t ask people to leave their jobs. And you don’t need to feel like you should leave your job.
Do what’s best for you at a certain time of your life. We all have our own journeys; our own ways to live our lives, and it’s more than okay to live the life you want. Different things fulfil us in a different way, so feel free to choose the most fulfilling life for you.
However, if you found yourself in an intersection at the moment, thinking about whether or not you should quit your job and start over, I have a little something to share with you: something that helped me to make up my mind and show me a clearer path in making my decision to live the life I want.
Oh, well, 6 things, to be exact.
I think it’s good to experience these things first, before even deciding (or without having) to quit your job.
1. Surround yourself with people you respect and admire.
Either you respect and admire them for their wit, wisdom, fun and uplifting personalities, loving relationships, or sharp business sense, connect with these people.
Talk to them–even if it’s only for 20 minutes, over coffee. Ask them questions. Listen to what they have to say, examine how they live their lives. Read their books or watch their talks on YouTube.
Just try spending more time with these people, and you’ll start to see how fast you ‘grow’.
2. Work for yourself, always.
Yes, even when you’re working 9 to 5 in someone else’s company, you don’t work for your boss. You’re working for yourself.
Learn as much as you can. Use your company’s learning facilities or training opportunities. Seek advice from your boss, your seniors, or your peers. Give the best that you can to the work that you do.
Always remember that when you’re submitting something, you’re saying: “This is my best!”–so, make sure that it is.
Know your current drive and why it becomes your drive.
For me, it’s the 3Cs. Is it Cash, Career or Cause?
I have to admit that there are times when people really need Cash among others, for example when you have to care for a sick family members.
Sometimes, your drive is Career. You want to climb up the corporate ladder or move to London branch or head a division because you have dreamed that kind of achievement in life.
Other times, your drive is Cause. You have a great motivation to do something for a greater good, for instance saving dolphins or teaching students in remote areas.
Examine your current drive to work and ask yourself, why am I chasing this?
Knowing why you’re chasing the things you’re chasing or why you’re driven by certain things will give you more clarity in making professional (or even personal) decisions.
In the end, make sure that wherever you are and whatever you do, always try to improve and develop yourself. These are the things that people can’t take away from you.
3. Involve in things/projects you love and be a part of something you’d be proud of.
I always find it mentally-healthy and refreshing to work on something I love that has nothing to do with my professional work. Nowadays, it’s getting easier to get involve in such projects, because you can just go on Google and search for established groups or communities in your areas you can spend your time with.
If you don’t like something communal and are into something solitary like writing poems, work on your personal poem project–and publish it via self-publishing sites.
Personally, I believe that doing these things keep yourself sane in the midst of a fast-paced corporate world and a ton of work pressures. It keeps you balance; and give you a sense of personal achievement: an achievement that is fully yours.
Spare at least 2-3 hours of your time in a week to do this. You’ll never know where it may lead you.
4. Reconnect with your own bliss and define your own success.
What are the things you enjoy the most, no matter how silly or useless it may seem?
Other people may look down on you because you don’t travel much, but what if you just love staying at home, baking cookies, making jams, and cross-stitching?
Find your own bliss, and be confident with it.
Then ask yourself, how much of these things have you injected to your daily life lately?
Next, how do you define your own success? I mean, something that will make you feel light, happy, and fulfilled–like you have achieved your own greatness.
We tend to measure our success based on society’s standard: a house, a car, a savings account, a spouse, children, and so on, and so forth.
Other times, we compare our success with our siblings, our colleagues, or high school friends.
However, if you can define your own success, what would it be? What is success to you if your loved ones won’t judge you? What is success to you if you are not afraid
5. Do one or two thing(s) you have always wanted to do–no matter how small.
They said, magic begins at the end of your comfort zone.
Are there things you’ve always wanted to do but you haven’t done it because it feels scary, risky, humiliating, or uncomfortable?
A friend of mine said that she has always wanted to dine out alone, in a restaurant. But she hasn’t done it, because it feels terrifying. What would people think? Won’t it be awkward to sit in a nice restaurant, reading the menu, alone? Won’t people pity her; thinking that she has no friends to share the meal with?
“What do you think will change inside of you if you actually do this?” I asked her.
She smiled, “Maybe I’ll be more comfortable with myself, more confident being in my own skin, and not having to care that much about what other people might think of me; or about other people’s judgement. I guess I’ll feel… lighter.”
6. Plan the life you want, and live at least a little bit of it every single day.
Take some time to think about the life you want. What’s your ideal life would be like? Go through different aspects of your life, like health, career, financial, personal, relationship, and spirituality.
List down all the things you would like to experience in your version of an ideal life. Then, list down what would you do for yourself, or for others (loved ones, friends, families, societies) when you’ve lived that ideal life. List down what you could and would give, as much as you could think of.
Now look again at your list, and see how you can inject a little bit of your ideal life into your life today and start living it.
Have you always wanted to travel around the world? What about traveling around your hometown on weekends and experience the joy of it? Thinking about connecting with people from different countries while you’re traveling abroad? Start now by hosting travellers who are visiting your town. Want to build an animal shelter when you have tons of money? What about giving small donations to animal shelters?
When you’re clear about the kind of life you want, you can start living it every single day, one step at a time. You don’t even need to quit your job if you don’t want to. You can always inject your ideal life in every aspects of your life: including in the job you’re having right now.
To sum it all up: simply LIVE. As much as you can, with the best of your ability.
Originally published at beradadisini.com