This year was somewhat successful, but at the cost of health, exposure to stress, and many inconveniences along the way. In this year I’ve learned to value my free time over money. I’ve learned that lifestyle has more of an impact on your well being than your financials. And I started thinking very much long term.
Freelancing, getting projects that you can complete ad hoc, is far better value for time than wasting 50 hours on commuting and getting to and from work, and stressing out over constant changes in the business landscape. I felt it was my time to quit, so I did.
People around me became worried, and wondered if I was okay. Everyone said that you don’t walk out of a six figure job like I did. But I am a different kind of person. Many people invested early into their Masters education, yet I did not, and feel like now is the chance. And I feel the burnout of the past 5 years weighing on my soul. This a time to accumulate knowledge, make new connections and genuinely working towards making it bigger and easier to succeed.

Things I will Miss

Behind me, I am not only leaving a job, I am leaving friends. People that you work with become like family for how long of a time you spend with them. And with the work being left behind, you are also leaving a certain lifestyle.
I may miss stability and abundance of having a reliable stream of income, however…

Things I will be looking forward to

I am really looking forward to save around 80 hours worth of time a month. It’s not just the time I will be saving, but energy as well. This will allow me to regroup my energy into finding small projects, devote time to further improvement of my skills and the choice of people I want to work with.
With more time and energy, I will be able to organize my living space, commitments, and focus my core into learning useful and reliable skills. PHP and X Code will be some things I’ll be tackling with Vigor. Furthermore I will return to working on my blogs, and that in an of itself will be a game changer.