My Road to Change

Even though I just started this blog, I have been thinking about making a major life change for several months.  I don’t want to give the false impression that change is easy or that it happens quickly.  In fact, it has taken me a year just to get to this point.
My road to change started in the Summer of 2012.  I finally had a career and income that met my expectations and fit my definition of “success”.  The problem was, I wasn’t happy. I was beginning to realize that my life “plan” was not leading to the life I had imagined.  I tried to take a step back and evaluate things to determine what I was doing wrong.
I finally started asking myself the important questions I should have been asking all along, like What really makes me happy?  After several months of self-reflection, I was starting to understand what I wanted out of life.  Who I really wanted to be. 
I discovered that I really didn’t like my career and that financial security was not as important as enjoying life.  I realized that my determination to be “successful” had prevented me from finding my true path in life.  More importantly, my race to succeed had distracted me from really enjoying life.  I saw that personality traits I had always viewed as positive, were actually leading to my unhappiness.  For example, I have always been driven, often to the point of obsessive.  I am a perfectionist and hold myself to extremely high standards.  Plus, I never give up or quit.  Although, these qualities definitely contributed to my success in school and helped me climb the “corporate ladder”, they have caused a lot of stress and anxiety. 
You may think all these revelations were satisfying or liberating.  Unfortunately, this new understanding of myself only made me overwhelmed and more unhappy.  I felt like I was stuck in the life I had created and unsure if I could really start over.  I wanted to quit my job and move near a beach where I could enjoy outdoor activities.  Not to mention, I needed to completely reprogram my brain.
For the next few weeks I just kept living the same life.  Only now I went through each day noticing all of the things I disliked about me and my life.  After a few months of this, I was motivated to change.  I became so frustrated that I found the courage to try to make the changes I was dreaming about.  Yes, it seemed impractical, irresponsible, and completely crazy.  But really, what did I have to lose?  I was even more miserable now, so I had to do something!
So . . . I did it!  I quit my job and moved over 1000 miles.  I now live in St. Petersburg, Florida and am building a new career working from home.  My road to change has not been easy.  My life is full of uncertainty and my financial security is gone.  However, I can honestly say that I’m happy!  I definitely have “Oh Sh**!” moments but I have developed so much confidence through this process that I have faith everything will work out – somehow. 

Now, I’m just trying to live each day to the fullest and enjoy every moment!   I am still working on changing my obsessiveness and perfectionism. I am finding that changing me is definitely the biggest challenge!  I am still a work-in-progress, but I’m finally finding my true path!  Life is good!