And so it begins

I left my job today. On purpose. 

I'm calling it a self-imposed, self-funded, self-nurturing sabbatical.

I'm a little excited, a little scared, and still unsure of what my next steps will be. 

But mostly, I'm just really happy to begin this adventure. I don't know where it will take me and I don't know where it will end, and that's the best part of the whole sordid thing.

How it came to be

I've been working a contract position for the past six months, filling in for an employee who was out on maternity leave.  Before that, I was with my previous company for 14 years. The 14-year company had layoffs last October and, just like that, I was out of a job.  I was lucky to find my current (or past, as of about three hours ago) contract job just a few weeks after the layoffs, and I immediately fell into a really good groove with the new company.  I knew it would be a temporary groove, because my contract was only slated to run for six months, but I made the most of it.

It was fun. Creative. Low-stress. 9 to 5. No weekends and no laptop to lug home. In other words, it was a dream come true and a 180 degree turn from what I'd been doing up to this point.

And today, I'm done and I'm moving on.

The reality was that my work had wrapped up, maternity employee returned and I handed all of the reigns back to her capable hands. They asked me to stay. They wanted to keep me. I said thank you very much, but I'm going on sabbatical.

I said I'll call you in the fall.

Because, come on -- how often do you get to say that, and how often does anyone get to take real time off? I'm talking more than a weekend here or a week there. I'm talking about taking the next four months off, and just seeing where it takes me. I don't have the answer to that question right now, but I've got some good ideas. My ideas aren't grandiose like I think most people expect to hear.  Maybe my ideas will evolve in time, and I expect that they will.


But for now, I have small goals. I want to unwind. I want to take road trips. I want to exercise more. I want to learn something new. I want to go camping. I want to swim and ride my bike.  I want to cook. I want to write.


And the best part is -- there's just no time like the present to dive right in. So dive I shall, and I'll wait to see where exactly this leap takes me.