It isn’t easy to change careers, especially a lucrative career. I am not talking about staying within the same industry but completely changing careers and entering unknown turf. It is a big deal to make that decision. After all, why would someone leave a high paying job in the first place? I know why. It is because they despise what they do, how they earn, and the negative effects it has on them and their family and friends. Over 85% of working people despise their jobs. There is something seriously wrong with that yet we stay in those jobs our entire lives. I was one of them. The big question is ‘how do you get out of it?’ Where do you go and how do you justify it to the discouraging public that is drinking the koolaid. Making money can be great incentive to stay in something painful because there is that ‘one day I’ll walk away’ mentality. But this is your life. Is that really how we should think and live? I think not yet it is encouraged because it is ‘secure.’ I think we are all catching on that there is no such thing as security. So how did I escape?
It usually takes a cataclysmic event to inspire someone to make a drastic change. Mine was not so much cataclysmic as a realization. I was an investment banker in private equity. I owned the business, just me, always chasing the next deal. That was painful but what was worse, was working in an entire industry that was constantly chasing the next deal. When you work in a career that equates success to how much money you bring in, you leave yourself open to some really dishonest and cut throat behavior. The financial industry is the epitome of that. Don’t get me wrong, there are some really honest and caring people out there, but they aren’t making the big bucks. You have to wear armour and shove your integrity aside to survive. That wasn’t a world that I wanted to live in anymore. It felt bad and my dreams of being a writer or a creative person at all was getting further away each day.
Then it happened. After an easy divorce, I felt free. No worries there. But then my Mom died, my dog died, and my Dad died. It was hitting home that I was next in line to push up daisies and I didn’t like the idea of going out as an unfulfilled, stressed out person who had amazing opportunities to do anything but didn’t act on them. Why wasn’t I going after them? Why doesn’t anyone go after their dreams? When you have a career that is labeled as ‘successful,’ you feel the pressure to see it through so that you can put a bathing suit on your wrinkled body one day and lay in the sun doing nothing and call yourself successful. Maybe you have kids in college or other financial responsibilities and you use that to justify that future heart attack. I had none of those. Still, it isn’t easy to walk from familiar turf but I did it. No situation is worth unhappiness and a life of regrets. If I had kids, the last thing I would want is to be an example of ‘not’ going after what you love because money was more important. Somewhere in our little, limited brains, we think that doing what you love means sacrificing income. That couldn’t be further from the truth.
I walked from over 20 years in the financial industry and the night my security licenses expired, it felt like an elephant finally got off of my chest. I had no idea what I would do, but I knew it was going to be exciting. That was back when internet marketing became available to individuals and I saw my ticket to independence. Show me how to do it and I can take it from there. And I did. I understood the power and that it was in its infancy. Thanks to YouTube, I found amazing mentors and became more financially successful than I had ever had in my 20-year career. Go figure. I then went after my passions. I wrote a best selling, award winning book (several, actually). My first novel was made into a television movie that plays on Hallmark year round (The Rooftop Christmas Tree). I took up interior design and decided it was more fun to decorate my place than to get paid for decorating others. I tried to get into fashion and bought inventory that I was never able to sell because I had no clue what I was doing. Best of all, I was trying everything that I was passionate about and getting answers. There were no failures because I was living out my potential and finding first hand what I should be doing. All of it was fun and worth the exploration.
It was then that I launched a YouTube channel and started promoting the internet training that I found success with. Most important, I was inspiring others to start living fulfilled lives. Moving past fear takes real effort so I created an online course “Break Through Fear” that is changing lives. I never planned any of this. I simply went after everything that felt right and good and contributed to others and our planet. Through it all, my life has changed in amazing ways as long as I keep choosing things that I feel passionate about that brings value. It always works out well and leads me to more surprises that I couldn’t have imagined.
I was able to pick up and move. I live on the beach and watch dolphins every day with my coffee or wine. I travel to other countries when I please while my online businesses run and earn. I coach others in their businesses and guide people to live in peace and joy. I shoot videos and create content which is fun for me. I am an asset to this planet and no longer a detriment. When I breath my last breath, I will know that I did a good thing, or a few good things, and maybe someone out there will choose a happier path because of it.
Why don’t more of us do this? Fear. We are programmed to eat, sleep, work and then we die. In between we get a vacation or two, maybe fall in love and work some more to support that. That may sound pessimistic, but it is how most of us live until we say ‘no more.’ Thanks to our global cataclysmic events, more of us are now saying ‘no more.’ We are placing our dreams and doing what ‘feels right’ above chasing the cash. I see the world changing in big, positive ways. I know this for sure because I have millions of viewers on my YouTube channel that tell me so. They are excited for our future and shutting off the misinformation. They are creating their own information and it is pretty amazing.
Change is a choice and everyone has that ability to choose any path they desire. Yes, it is frightening, but it is exhilarating. It is wonderful to do good things for others and the planet. Things are changing because of this attitude. We are waking up and realizing that there is another way. Are you holding back? If so, ask yourself why. Exactly what are you afraid of? Ask any successful person and they will tell you that there is no such thing as failure. That is another story we tell ourselves as an excuse to never try in the first place. When I gave up my career, I didn’t have a plan other than living a live that felt great. Maybe that should be your plan.
Perhaps it is time for you to look at the massive opportunities out there to achieve your dreams. You won’t be alone. There are millions of us doing it and cheering one another on. There are entire communities being formed that care for one another and the actions they take. Shall we be an example to the next generations of what it means to live a fulfilled life, care about others and our planet? It is like staying in an unhappy marriage ‘for the kids.’ You, your spouse AND your kids are unhappy and you are teaching them that unhappiness is acceptable to survive. Unhappiness is a pattern and we are breaking away to be the example of the ‘new normal.’ Yes, I left my career and way of life as I knew it. I cannot even remember who I was back then as I have changed in so many ways. You can too. Won’t you join us in a new world where all things are possible? We are waiting for you.