This funny thing happened when I quit my job (it was called creativity)

This funny thing happened when I quit my job. A few days later, I started writing again. My brain was lighting up with ideas. I was scribbling in notebooks, raiding my Evernote for ideas I remembered, and looking at available domains on GoDaddy. Yes! It’s back! Por fin.

With my newfound freedom, I’d opened the gates back up to my creativity and my energy.

I was bounding out of bed at 6 am and heading to my desk to work on a few freelance projects that I’d transitioned to straight away.

Something clearly hadn’t been working before, and my wakeup call should’ve come earlier than it did. But it probably had, many times over the last year, and I’d ignored it.

As well as feeling bland and uninspired, I’d had more than a few signs from my body that I wasn’t in the best place. My skin was the worst it had been in years. I’d had a bladder infection that wouldn’t go away, resulting in me leaving work as soon as I arrived one day to go into hospital. Apparently, this wasn’t obvious enough. But eventually, I listened to the signs.

I wrote my resignation letter long before I actually handed it in. One time I nearly did, but I told myself I was being too impulsive. So I forgot about it again… for about twenty-four hours. And then that cycle repeated over and over again.

Before I gave in my notice, I continued feeling miserable and stressed. Then one afternoon, I messaged my boyfriend: “I’ve done it”, I said. “Good job”, he replied. He’d advised me to be cautious and avoid making emotional decisions, but it was so damn clear it was the right decision.

Why don’t we listen more to our bodies and energy levels? Why is it so hard to see when we’re not living in line with our values?

Perhaps one reason is that changing is harder and riskier than staying still and doing nothing. But is it really harder?

One thought has kept coming up since I started working for myself. “Shit, I might never have to work in an office again if I don’t want to”.

During my 9-7 existence, I sometimes felt like the special one in my family for being the only one working in an office. But now I feel so much freer. For me, this was absolutely the right decision.