La Alaskena

It occurred to me that I haven’t yet shared with the world the crazy thing I decided to do last month: quit my job.

Yes, in this craptastic economy, I decided to quit my job. The job that took me about seven months to find in the first place. The job that was, you know, paying my bills and keeping me fed.

But here’s the thing: when I was a little girl, I didn’t sit around dreaming about becoming a pharmacy technician. I wanted to be a writer/volcanologist/ballerina. It’s pretty disheartening to be 25 years old and wake up everyday to find yourself a pharmacy technician instead of a writer/volcanologist/ballerina. Although, in an effort to be realistic, now I want to be a writer/entrepreneur/telenovela star/cowgirl when I grow up.

I was so unhappy. I was spending 40 hours a week doing something for which I had zero passion. Going through the motions. Spending the weekend “recovering” from the week. Crying on Sunday nights because I couldn’t bear the thought of going to work on Monday.

That’s no way to live. Life’s too short to be miserable all the time, to waste it on something you don’t care about, something that you didn’t want in the first place. I had a lot of guilt. Everybody else works 40 hours a week, why can’t you? What’s wrong with you? You were lucky to get this job and now you want to throw it away?

Well, yeah. It wasn’t what I wanted. So I quit. I had to psych myself up for it. I read a lot of blog posts like this one. I tried to save some money. I tried to get over the guilt. And then I turned in my two weeks notice, and two weeks after that, I walked away.

I wish I could say I’ve been super-productive, but I haven’t. I’ve slept A LOT. I’ve caught up on my Netflix queue. I’ve baked bread and cookies. I’ve read. I rearranged my office. I’ve been learning how to set type and print. I got a business license.

What’s next for me? I’m trying to figure that out. An Etsy shop. Odd jobs. (I translated concrete mixing instructions into Spanish– an interesting challenge!) Writing. Traveling. Making stuff. Enjoying life.

So here’s my new resume:

Skills: Writing. Editing. Translating. Over-analyzing. Critical thinking. Dreaming big. Puns. Speaking Spanish. Karaoke. Accents. Dancing cumbia. Cooking. Paper cranes. Teaching English. Slapstick. Letterpress printing. Cat-wrangling.

If you or anyone you know is in need of such services, let me know: andreastaats AT gmail DOT com

I look forward to doing business with you.