Deciding to quit your day job is no easy task. It turns out that having a steady paycheck, health insurance and a car allowance is quite comforting. It’s really easy to just snuggle up in that comfort blanket and find yourself still wrapped in it seven years later. I knew what I had to do, but let’s face it… I was just scared.

Mr. BEY and I would talk about it over and over, analyzing the pros and cons, running the numbers to see just how big of a risk we would be taking. Let me tell you, watching your budget get cut in half is no pretty picture. One second we’d be fully behind the idea and then later on we would be second guessing ourselves. We went through this teeter totter of emotions for a couple of days. One night while in bed, tossing and turning, praying and stressing, I decided that I would just go to sleep and see if I had reached a decision by the morning.

When I woke up the next morning, my stomach immediately twisted in knots. Oh gosh, today’s the day, today I’m either going to decide to quit or stay. As I brushed my teeth I just stared at myself in the mirror. I put the toothbrush down with foamy bubbles still on my lips and said to myself, “People don’t make things happen by being afraid.” It was almost like a command, a call to action. I immediately thought of Christopher Columbus (I know, don’t laugh, total random moment here). Do you think he was scared before he set sail in search of America? He thought he might sail off the edge of the Earth for crying out loud. Do you think he just sat there waiting for all the stars to align and all the obstacles to be moved from his path? – No. So I thought, if he could do that, I think I’ll survive quitting my day job. It kind of made my problems seem kind of small in the grand scheme of things.

So that’s what I did and here I am now, only 9 short working days left before I walk away from the corporate world. Is it scary? – Yes. Are there things that I’ll miss? – Certainly. But I have to stay focused on all there is to gain, how many wonderful things I’m looking forward to.

I found this quote after I gave my notice…

Thought it was just a tad freaky to see it was a quote by Christopher Columbus. I may just have to recreate this print for my new home office. It’s so inspiring and a great reminder of how his journey gave me the courage for my own.

That’s exactly what popped into my head as I sat in bumper to bumper traffic on the way home from work. “God gave me gifts?” what is that supposed to mean? While it seemed kind of random at the moment, as I repeated it over and over to myself, I felt a sense of peace wash over me.

“God gave me gifts!”

Exactly! It was like something just clicked inside my head and the path before me became clearer. I did have gifts, gifts that are unique to me, gifts that I was not currently able to put to use in my current job.

You see, ever since I was a little girl, my head has always fluttered with creative thoughts and artistic visions. One of the first jobs I ever wanted to do was to be, as I called it, an “interior decorator”. (Well, to be technically accurate, the very first job I wanted was to be a hairdresser. Didn’t we all have those life-size Barbie heads with hair to style, curl and (ahem) cut?) I thought the idea of being an interior “decorator” sounded like the most amazing job ever. I used to draw rooms and color the curtains and bedding, make different versions for the “client” to choose from. I remember when I proudly proclaimed to my Mom and grandparents that I wanted to be an “interior decorator when I grow up!”, the looks I received were not nearly as excited as I had expected them to be. They kind of chuckled in a way that made me second guess my dreams of being an “interior decorator”.

It’s funny the things you’re taught growing up – “You should be a lawyer.” “Oh, I bet you’d make a great doctor.” I can’t actually remember ever hearing someone say, “You should be an artist” or “Have you thought about being a designer?”

You see I wasn’t the kid that loved learning long division, I was the kid that got weak in the knees over the smell of my new, fresh box of crayons. As high school came along, art classes were replaced with AP Calculus, because those were the “classes you need to get into a good college.” So I took those classes and went to a tough college and busted my tail to graduate and have a “great career”. But the need to create never went away. It was like a constant itch, hunger pains – something I just couldn’t ignore.

So I created. At nights, on the weekends, during vacations, during holidays, I always busied myself with fun projects to feed that creative side. For a while that was enough, but the desire to create and express myself artistically grew and grew.

So when the phrase, “God gave you gifts”, came to me that day in traffic, I knew what I had to do.

Up next…
So I told you my decision to make the leap had to do with traffic and Christopher Columbus. I’m sure you’re wondering how in the world he fits into this picture. Keep your eyes out, that story’s up next.

Yep, you read it right, I finally quit my day job! (insert the bells, whistles, and parades with elephants)

From now on I’ll be knee-deep in creative mischiefs as I run Blue Eyed Yonder full-time.

It’s been a little over a week since I gave my notice, and I still have to rub my eyes and make sure that I’m reading those words right, “quit?” I’ve known in my heart this day would one day come for me. You go through life reading books about finding cheese in a maze or discovering the color of your parachute. You pin inspirational posters about chasing your dreams and living life to the fullest. But all of that seemed kind of pointless if I was too scared to leap, to afraid to step into the ocean.

So what made me finally do it? What made me check out of corporate life and open the doors to creativity? Well it’s kind of a neat story – one I’ll share this week with you on the blog. To give you a hint it involves Atlanta traffic and Christopher Columbus. Confused? Ha! You’re gonna love it.