I have hit the reset button on my life. And I've never been happier. I have said goodbye to the world of 9-to-5 office life. It's not for me. It doesn't suit me. And it makes me miserable. For the first time in a long time, I am living the life that I want, and it's not like anything I've lived before.
Ok, let me back-up. In my life, I have gone to school, performed in plays, been a radio DJ, hosted a public access TV show, gone to grad school, worked in Belgium, and even lived in London for two years.
But now I'm back in my adopted home of Washington, DC. It's where I want to be. It's where I'm choosing to be. And I've spent the last year and a half working in an office. I thought that was what I was supposed to do. You eventually grow-up, meet a nice boy, and get a job in an office with a 401K and health insurance. That's what you do in your 30's, right? But it wasn't right for me. My health suffered, I gained a bunch of weight, and I wasn't my best self. I started to feel sad and anxious most of the time. And that's not me. It's really not.
So I took the leap. I decided to quit. I gave my two-weeks notice on Monday, April 7th, and my last day at work was Thursday, April 17th (the office was closed for Good Friday). Can I confess something embarrassing? Do you know what song ultimately inspired me to quit? This song:
Yup. "Let It Go", from the Disney movie Frozen. That song perfectly reflects how I feel at this moment. And I admit, it inspired me to break free from the life I was living. "It's time to see what I can do / To test the limits and break through / No right, no wrong, no rules for me / I'm free!" It's silly, but that's EXACTLY how I feel right now. And it's euphoric.
So here I am. Day One of my new, dream life. Thanks to my office job, I have saved enough money to pay my bills for the next 6 months. But I'm obviously not going to go 6 months without making money. But I'm taking a full month off. I'm not going to look for a conventional job during this month. This month is my month. I worked my ass off to save-up for this month. This is going to be my dream month.
I am going to live a full month like a full-time writer. I'm going to work on this blog every day. I'm going to work on articles for the Washingtonian Magazine every day. I'm going to work on my book about my time in London every day. I'm going to exercise and get my health back. I'm going to go to yoga and meditate and get my mental health back. I'm going to go to events around town and enjoy this city without the burden of a 9-to-5 job. I am free.
I don't know what my life will look like after this month, but I'm going to love every second of this month while it lasts. Ideally, I'd like to pay my bills as a freelance writer. I'm going to write and submit stories for this full month, and maybe afterwards, I'll have enough writing gigs to keep this lifestyle going. I'll happily work temp-jobs or maybe rent out my room on www.airbnb.com. Who knows? But I will pay my bills, no doubt. Just not in the conventional 9-to-5 way. Not anymore.
But this is what I know for sure. I want to write. I want to tell stories. And I want to go out into this city and write about this city. And a 9-to-5 job just doesn't suit me. I tried to make that lifestyle work for me. And it doesn't. It never will. I must create my own life. It won't look like my parents' life or my siblings' life. It won't look like anything I've known before. But I can make it work. If we only get one go at this thing called life, I have to make it fun! I have to make it an adventure! And I have to make it fit me. Because I'm sick of trying to fit into someone else's idea of what life should be.
I would like to thank Dr. James Jeffries for inspiring the title of this blog. James is an old friend from my days at DePauw University. He gave a speech at Wabash College (where he now works) entitled "Ordering Off The Menu: Thoughts on Selecting, Choosing, and Creating Your Life." If you want to be inspired, please watch his entire speech here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-OG6jAN0Luc.
He presented this speech on April 17th, 2014, my last day at my office job. I saw this speech on his brother's Facebook page the next day. And as I listened to it, completely captivated, I knew that I was making the right choice for my life. I knew that quitting my day job and leaping head-first into my writing career was entirely the right thing to do at this moment. I am not following in the footsteps of those who came before me. I'm blazing an entirely new trail for myself. But it fits me. I'm not selecting a career path from a multiple-choice list of jobs. I'm ordering off the menu. And I'm getting exactly what I want.
And as usual, I am leaving you with a photo of the author. This picture was taken last summer, at the bottom of Meridian Hill Park in Washington, DC. I felt very much like me that day.
I wish all of you the best life possible.
-Leila
P.S. Relive all of your favorite moments from "The Sherman House Webisodes" at www.shwebisodes.com.
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