My decision to leave employment

Some of you will know that I left the employed world at the end of March 2018.

As a qualified accountant with 15 years’ experience, 9 of which coming after I had completed 6 years of study to obtain my qualifications, I had climbed my way up that corporate ladder to a well remunerated position that enabled me to live a pretty comfortable life financially.

However, the job itself had left doubts in my mind for many years and the thought of doing it for another 40 years simply scared the s&^t out of me!

I always felt I wanted something else, deep down, a desire to create something special, to use my passion for fitness to promote healthy living to a wider audience and use the knowledge and experience I had gathered along the way to provide a service for people starting out, or those looking for that next step in progressing their physique and mind!

A lot of things ran through my head as that day drew nearer…

• What about the mortgage and bills?
• Is this really the right thing to do?
• Can I really change career paths this ‘late’ in life after investing so many years getting to where I am?
• Will I succeed in my new venture?

I was afforded a bit of time through an offer of redundancy. Sure, it eased my mind for a short period of time, but that money wasn’t going to last forever and I would need to reinvest elsewhere to further my personal development into any new field.

There was also another huge factor in my decision…I had been in a long distance relationship for some 3 years by this point, only getting to see my girlfriend once a month for a long weekend and a couple of holidays each year!

I wanted to make a change for us. To be together for more than 14 days at any one point would be quite strange but something we both desperately wanted to happen to progress our relationship.

And so, that decision was made. 31st March 2018 marked the end of an era. The end of 15 years working for the man. The end of being told how many days off I could take each year and when I could take them.

It was an incredibly freeing feeling, which also came with a little fear of the unknown!

I’ve always said I like to be challenged, though, and this was just another challenge to overcome. One that I was very excited about as it was giving me the time to breath, the space to think clearly without the looming worry of having to return to the office the next day and the opportunity to understand myself and the direction I wanted to go!

Fast forward 10 months or so and I have all but moved countries to be with my girlfriend, I have launched my new venture and am offering my services as a fitness & lifestyle coach to those committed to making positive changes to their health and mindset!

I am happier now than I had been for a long time and I put that down to being able to pursue my passion each and every day!

Taking such a big leap is not for everyone and I am not necessarily telling everyone to simply drop everything as I did. BUT, if your situation is not serving you, it is certainly worth considering.

You could start small. 

What is it that sets your heart on fire? 

What do you wake up excited to be doing on a daily basis? 

How about doing that thing as a side project to begin with?

Your day job can pay the bills, allowing you to spend time away from that day job focusing on you, on your passion and on creating something incredible!

That hour or two that you spend slouched in front of the TV screen each night, spend it doing something that excites you, something that provides value to yourself and those around you!

With that fire reignited every single aspect of your life will improve.

Turning up to that day job won’t seem quite so bad when you know you spent the previous night developing something amazing and can do the same as soon as you get home again tonight!

Your family won’t dread that miserable face coming home from work as you’ll be buzzing to be back and ready to get to work on your side hustle!

And make sure you also find time to exercise! It really will make you feel amazing, more energetic and ultimately happier in body and mind!