Hi All,
Brand new to Steemit. Here is a bit of my story!
Growing up in the 70s & 80s I was always taught that in order to be a success, I needed to study hard in school, determine some kind of career path at the tender age of around 16 and focus on the education I needed to attain the career I wanted. Needless to say I had no idea what I wanted to be or do (I sometimes still think that).
Then, I was told that I was supposed to work at that "magical" job I would find in my desired field until I was 65 years old, retire and reminisce about how good my life was. At retirement I guess I was then supposed to putter around the house tending to my flock of cats and my violet garden.
I'm sorry Mom & Dad, I know this was the only way you knew and were just trying to ensure I had a good life, better than the lives you had growing up.
When I was a kid, I thought I wanted to be a vet because I love animals. BUT that involved surgery! Something I have an aversion to. So I moved out of the house at 18 and wandered around life for about 4 years. I did end up with a great paying office job for a large insurance company and had a good 15 year run with them. Problem was, I found myself dreading Monday mornings. One day I was lunching at my desk, gripping a cold metal fork in my fist and wondering if sticking it in my eye would be less painful than the daily drudgery of processing other people's retirement income paperwork.
"I've got a plan!" I yelled out to my salad. My workmate just about jumped out of her skin. "I am quitting my job and moving to Mexico" I told her. She looked at me and said "okay I'll pack my bags and we leave tonight". She was just playing along with the foolishness she heard.
Three months later I was hugging my dearest friends goodbye, jumping in a Ford Probe with an accomplice, I mean a friend, who also wanted to leave the rat race and drove 3000 miles down the North American Continent to Baja California Sur.
Finally, the ocean, palm trees, paradise found!! But what do I do for an income now? I dabbled in Timeshare Sales for a couple years but that was NOT giving me the Financial Freedom I was longing for. I held fast to my belief that moving away was the best thing that ever happened to me because it interrupted my comfort zone, shook me up and woke me up.
I have been here for 16 years now and I have crossed paths with so many people from different backgrounds and points of view that it opened my mind and I was able to entertain the possibility of becoming an entrepreneur.
Don't get me wrong, being an entrepreneur is hard work but the rewards are entirely yours. Now I feel free to live life on my own terms, decide when to work and when to play. Now I feel I can happily step outside my comfort zone and know that I will learn something.
Okay, I'm not saying you have to turn things upside down like I did and move thousands of miles away from your home to "find yourself" but it sure worked for me. I know in my gut that if I had stayed in that nice small town in Ontario Canada I wouldn't have the love for life that I have now.