@MJ DeMarco , glad you bumped this. I had missed it.
@Vigilante , this story you've told was the tale I wanted to avoid at all costs.
I was an engineer for a major defense contractor in the 90s while in my early to mid 20s. So-so salary, a pension that was re-made into a 401(k), and boredom oozing from every orifice of my body. My biggest fear was that I would be 40 and still bored, still trapped, still marching in step with the propaganda I had been told I should do with my life: go to school, get a degree, work for a good company.
During my 5-year run working for the defense contractor I had been doing improv comedy and taking acting lessons at night. This was my side hustle that paid very little. Yet, lo and behold, I got cast as the lead in an independent film.
So I quit my job. I didn't have a grand plan, even a business plan. I couldn't see beyond 3 months of what I was really going to do. But the allure of freedom was too great. I was just another number is sea of gray cubicles and I needed out.
Your story brought back the angst I had while working that job, the glacier speed of time over 14 days once I gave my 2-weeks notice, and the sense of adventure that I seized once I was free.
Am I truly free? Hell no. But I enjoy working towards that goal and I determine exactly what I'm going to do everyday. And for that, I am grateful that a young me had the stones to break away from a scripted life.
Your final take that we should all do more to help the folks seeking their way definitely resonates with me. Thank you for the reminder.
@Vigilante , this story you've told was the tale I wanted to avoid at all costs.
I was an engineer for a major defense contractor in the 90s while in my early to mid 20s. So-so salary, a pension that was re-made into a 401(k), and boredom oozing from every orifice of my body. My biggest fear was that I would be 40 and still bored, still trapped, still marching in step with the propaganda I had been told I should do with my life: go to school, get a degree, work for a good company.
During my 5-year run working for the defense contractor I had been doing improv comedy and taking acting lessons at night. This was my side hustle that paid very little. Yet, lo and behold, I got cast as the lead in an independent film.
So I quit my job. I didn't have a grand plan, even a business plan. I couldn't see beyond 3 months of what I was really going to do. But the allure of freedom was too great. I was just another number is sea of gray cubicles and I needed out.
Your story brought back the angst I had while working that job, the glacier speed of time over 14 days once I gave my 2-weeks notice, and the sense of adventure that I seized once I was free.
Am I truly free? Hell no. But I enjoy working towards that goal and I determine exactly what I'm going to do everyday. And for that, I am grateful that a young me had the stones to break away from a scripted life.
Your final take that we should all do more to help the folks seeking their way definitely resonates with me. Thank you for the reminder.
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