Day One

I quit my job.

I quit my job and today is the first day since leaving my secure government role that I actually feel like I don't have a job. My last day as Marketing Assistant was just over a week ago. Last week was spent visiting family in Victoria and hosting an engagement party at my parents house. Today my Fiance woke up and went to work while I guiltily slept in. When I got out of bed, about 8:30am, I looked around our empty 2 bedroom apartment and it finally sunk in... I quit my job.

It wasn't a decision I came to lightly. After all it was a secure job, in a field that I had studied in, clearing $1500 a fortnight with great flexible working hours and leave options. So why would I quit? Its a question I asked myself often, especially when listening to stories of other friends who earn less while doing more or not having a job since the floods. It made me feel selfish for wanting to quit, for wanting to voluntarily give up such a stable job. Maybe it is selfish.

I quit for a number of reasons, the largest being that I wanted to take a risk and follow my new found love for Graphic Design. Last year I graduated from Shillington College with a Certificate IV in Design. It was an amazing experience. It had been five years since studying Marketing and Commerce at uni and just to be in a learning environment again felt simply wonderful. I had been feeling numb at work, repeating the same steps each day, each week, each month, feeling like I wasn't ever actually achieving anything worthwhile. It was really scary to feel like I was loosing myself and feeling powerless to make a change. So after reading 'The Last Lecture' by Randy Pausch I finally took action and enrolled at Shillington College hoping that it would ignite my inner spark and make me feel like I was capable of something great again.

And that is exactly what it did. I remembered how much I love being creative and that there is the potential to make a living from this passion and talent. Growing up I was told by family and teachers that being creative wouldn't allow me to support myself financially. I should be a doctor, study physics and chemistry or be a business woman because I 'had the smarts' to do so. I hadn't really heard much about careers in graphic design at that stage, after all I did go to high school in a small country town (I mean small, the welcome signs says there are 2,300 residents). So I studied marketing and commerce at uni instead of art. I now plan on proving the 'use your smarts' people all wrong.

Let me say that I wouldn't be able to do what I am doing without the support of my fiance 'Lucky'. He has been my sounding board when I was deciding about quitting, helped me to work out if it was financially possible and supported me through the process. Most of all though, he believes in me. He believes in my ability and passion and makes me feel like I'm not crazy for wanting to follow this path.