One Month Later...

Meeting people with different life styles

It's been a little over a month since I left my job of 12 years to start a new life and find a new path.

The recap, I was unhappy with my job for a while and seriously thinking of leaving for 2 years before I actually was brave enough to do it. I had been working on some different quests for women and the first year nothing took, but the second year I finally felt changes. I started getting back into art and writing again. Two things I loved but never made time for. My job kept pushing me to work more and more hours and more days. I felt like it was forcing me to make a choice and finally on the verge of what felt like a nervous breakdown or maybe it was just a huge panic attack I finally quit my job. I just let go. This was big for me. Huge! To everyone looking in from the outside it was sudden and drastic. On the inside though it was a long time coming and the best power move I ever made.

I broke all the rules people set. I quit without having another job and I cashed in my 401K and took a big hit on it in doing so. I did use it to pay my bills off for a year though. Then I got a part-time job at a local fast food place for extra money and to get myself out of the house and around people.

It's now a month later and as of right now I have no regrets. I'm finally just starting to enjoy my life again.

The first couple weeks I slept, a lot. Now I am just starting to get up at a certain time and do yoga in the mornings before breakfast. I'm slowly creating some semblance of a schedule for myself and using my time more wisely. I actually have time to enjoy a cup of tea and sit out in the sun with it in the morning.

Bo tired out after hanging out all day on my day off

It's interesting because I did Kyle Cease's Evolving Out Loud online seminar thing while I was deciding to quit (even though he strongly says, don't quit your job) and I finished it the week I quit. He was right about one thing, well a lot of things but this one thing pops up right now. I keep meeting people that have different lifestyles, since I started making all these changes to my life.

The guy I bought the camper from was the one who told me he pays off one bill for the whole year when he gets his income tax money. So that helped me to see things differently when it came to my 401K early withdrawal and how I could use it more wisely then I probably would have before.

I recently bought a used truck to pull Teddy (the camper) and the guy who sold it to me didn't work a traditional job anymore either. He bought cars at auction from dealers. People trade in their old cars for new ones but dealers can't have cars over 5 years old on their lots because banks won't finance them. So they auction them off. This guy buys them and resells them. Looks like he does one every couple weeks or months and that must cover his bills until he does the next one.

Hurricane Florence knocked the top of one of my tall pine trees down. I was lucky it went into my backyard and not into my house. I was looking through Facebook market place when this tree removal guy popped up. (See opening picture) This is what he does for a living. Climbing trees and taking them down. He had my whole yard almost done in a couple of hours. He moved here from another state last year. (I moved her 12 years ago) He pretty much runs his own show. (that picture is my tree in my backyard taken from my back step)

I feel like the universe is telling me, there's something more out there. I'm on the right path and eventually I will find it. I know it probably doesn't sound right to some people. This is how I feel though. All these people I'm meeting are put on my path for some reason.

On a personal note. My anxiety issues are finally starting to fade out a little bit. They were really bad when I first quit. My job was killing me. All the mental stress was turning into physical problems. I was running around to different doctors with all these symptoms but no one could find anything physically wrong with me. I was starting to feel like a hypochondriac because I felt like something was really wrong with me but there was never anything there.

I actually like my part-time job better than I did my full-time one before I left it. I feel like I'm part of a team there and like I actually do a good job. They're not constantly telling me I'm doing something wrong or berating me if I do. People that have been their longer than me mess up sometimes and it's never blown out of proportion. The problem is just fixed and everyone moves on. That helps my anxiety a lot! Plus most of the people there are OCD because they tell me when they do something. "I'm OCD, I like stuff to look this way" Each manager has their own "thing". It's interesting how people own their mental health now. I find it refreshing and it helps me to know what's going on with that person. I finally feel like my job is something I do during the day and not my entire life or reason for it!

I've been planing my trip for hopefully November. I was thinking too big originally and then I saw on a Facebook camping group that you don't have to do it all at once in a great big gesture. I can just take a month off from work and travel and come back. I don't have to decide anything else major right now. I can just relax and enjoy myself a bit. Little bites to eat the elephant. Baby steps to get where you're going.

Something else I realized is, I have no idea how I did everything and still worked 45+ hours a week! I spent two whole days of different weeks at the vets with sick pets. (everyone got sick as soon as I quit it felt like) I spent half a day on the phone insuring my new SUV (more on that later) the camper and changing insurance on my original car because it's now paid off.

I spent two days looking at different SUV's trying to find one in my price range that wasn't falling apart. That was a learning experience all on it's own.

I finally started getting different things at home together. I actually feel like doing stuff around the house again. Mowing the lawn, basic maintenance and house work. I'm not so exhausted mentally and physically from my job when I come home that I don't feel like doing anything. Since I work in the afternoons. (2 or after) I feel like I have more time to get things done. I always felt better on the 2-10 shift. I can sleep in a little later, get stuff done before work and then come home unwind and go to bed. I don't feel like my whole day revolves around going to work anymore.

I'm really happy with the choices I've made so far. I'm happy with how things are working themselves out and I'm finally learning to let go of things and just go with the flow a little bit and see where life takes me.

I know this is a temptation for a lot of people and I know it's not a reality for a lot of people. This is and was my own personal choice and there are a lot of other people that have done it before me and there will be a lot of different people that do it after me. Thanks for following me along on my personal journey.