The Journey Begins
May 1, 2007 | by brett | Permalink
My journey begins after making the decision for a passionless path to end. After interviewing 75 people on the 2006 Pursue the Passion tour, I entered into my first career position with a breadth of excitement to see if accounting fanned my fire. But I soon found myself entrapped in a traditional, well structured corporate auditing position, engulfed with 50 hour work weeks and the constant reminder that I was NOT pursuing my passion.
So today, I quit my job to pursue my passion. And for as long as I had dreamed of this moment, leaving my job was one of the hardest things I’d ever had to do.
Much like an author perfects an ending to a novel, I sought a similar exit that would outline the reasons for my sporadic decision. All day the butterflies rampantly circled my stomach. I struggled to keep my Adam’s apple where it belonged, and I popped a few Advil to treat my head that was overblown by stress. When 2:30 finally arrived, I quivered as I made my way past familiar faces to the boss’s office to deliver the message.
It wasn’t as graceful as I had planned or practiced. The wide corporate smile of my boss immediately turned into a disapproving frown when I forced out what I had to say. It was definitely not what my boss expected, clearly evident by the two elegant envelopes across the table, one containing a bonus, the other holding a pay raise. I told her the truth- I was leaving accounting because I did not have a passion for it, and by continuing to stay on that standard career path I would be cheating myself by ignoring my dream. This was a decision I had to make NOW, at the risk of my passions being forever forgotten.
The meeting eventually ended, and I hoped I had made the right decision. I had just walked away from a steady career position paying me $50,000+. I had just walked away from a job that contained all the makings that society typically looks upon to conclude that someone is doing well. I had just walked away from the position that I went to college for, only to find that the job wasn’t right for me.
There was no joy when I got home that night. Maybe some relief. My excitement outweighed my fear, but a fear of the unknown definitely was of existence. It was more like a dream, and I secretly thought I would wake up the next day ready to be at work in the morning like nothing had happened.
But this wasn’t a dream, and I had knowingly just taken a BIG step towards my journey.
Let this entry serve as a starting point to a journey towards my passion…Pursue the Passion.
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