I Quit
It’s real talk time.
You may have noticed some minor redesigns around here and I’m so excited about them! I wanted a bit of a new look to start off this month because things are changing in my life and it feels right to begin with a fresh look.
So. I quit my job.
Let’s back track. When I first started blogging seriously at Life with Rosie, I was stuck in a rut. I had just graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in English Education that I had worked towards for six years and after completing my student teaching and getting my degree, I was left at a complete loss. There was nothing for me to work towards anymore, and as much as I loved my student teaching experience, I was hit with the reality that school politics and extra unpaid hours of lesson planning wasn’t what I wanted the rest of my life to look like. It was hard for me to see a reason getting out of bed after a while and it slowly turned into staying in bed for most of the day. Days went by like this and in all seriousness, looking back at that time, I realize I was falling into a depression.
Life with Rosie slowly started pulling me out of my rut. I started feeling inspired again, I began to feel motivated and I felt like I was doing something worth while. I started making friends and creating a community; I started making a little pocket change and I slowly started discovering a whole new side to myself. I began getting out of bed and taking the time to put myself together again because I wanted to present myself in a professional way. I started to push my boundaries, I became brave and started trying new things so I could write about my experiences and I even started to share parts of my story.
When we got to California, I decided to find a job so we could save some additional money and pay off some student loans. California has been great but it also has been a little stressful. I was coming home from work and had absolutely no energy to blog; my creative juices were gone and I would sleep for hours in the afternoon. Combined with some other health issues, things were not going very well for me and I consistently felt like I was on the edge of a breakdown.
The breakdown did happen and after talking it out with Dustin, we agreed that we could financially afford for me to leave my job and be a full time blogger for the rest of the summer.
And everything has been infinitely better since then. I’m able to treat my blog like a business, I have ideas pouring in all of the time, I’ve started several big projects that I’m so excited about and I finally feel like I have a direction back in my life; and something that I do that makes me infinitely happy.
A lot of people totally give me the blank stare when I say I’m a blogger and a lot of people don’t understand why or how it all works. I do make a little pocket change off of this space that essentially keeps my blog running and maybe, hopefully, one day I can make a little more off of it. But this space isn’t for making money. This space is for my own sanity, my happiness, my friends, and my creativity. It’s a safe place to discuss topics like handicap parking and anxiety. It’s a place to express frustration and love about products and hair. It’s a tiny corner of the internet and it has completely changed my life.
I’m so excited to take this step and put my all into my blog. I’m so grateful for a husband who completely supports me in this choice so that I can take better care of myself and so I can truly be happy in what I’m doing every day. I recently wrote about how I’ve worked hard to make his dreams my own and he has been amazing in reciprocating that and making my dreams his.
I’m scared and anxious and nervous and excited about this, but I finally feel brave enough to try. Dreams will forever stay dreams if I don’t actually go for them. Maybe they won’t turn into a reality or maybe things will turn out differently, but I’ll never know if I don’t try. So, I’m making all my own plans and throwing my old ones away. And to those who have started this journey with me back in February and keep coming back; thank you. You have done more then you will ever know by making this a safe place for me, for making me feel valuable and for making me feel like I matter somewhere. I hope you stay for the next part of this crazy ride!
