Take the Leap
I’ve been at the airport for a few hours now, stuck at Newark because of a storm. With my headphones on and lightning streaking across the sky, I have found the most perfect flow; that moment when you become so fixed on what you’re doing that everything around you fades away, a feeling of bliss descends, and you know you could do what you’re doing forever. It’s amazing what happens when I have time to focus on my writing; as I type out these words and feel what I’m feeling right now, it is further affirmation for me that I have made the right decision to quit my job and start my own business.
Up until recently, my passion for writing, speaking, and encouraging others with my words took a back seat to my full-time job as a change management specialists for IT product migrations. While I still love that work and will continue doing it through my business, the constraints of working for a big company and an unrealistic project load took all my time and energy; I was drained. I knew it was time for me to shift my focus, but it also felt like jumping off the top of a mountain and hoping my parachute works.
When we make big changes like this, it is easy to only look for assurance in our successes. Did the parachute open? Did I make it to the ground safely? The evening I wrote most of this post, I had only just given my two weeks’ notice; I didn’t know when I would get my next paycheck or if I would be successful at all, but I knew it was the right decision because of the happiness I felt in that moment.
Affirmation of our choices should not come from others telling us we have chosen well, but from moments when we know we are exactly where we’re supposed to be.
Since writing these words, I had my first client ask for a statement of work, I sent my first invoice, and next week I will see money in my account. All of those are successes worth celebrating and confirmation that I made the right choice, but if we only look for affirmation in moments like that, then we may end up giving up before we ever see them. We can prepare the best we can but at some point, we need to trust the wind on our face and just take the leap.
