Taking Life with Chances

My first job was at 15. I worked at Burger King, and I loved it.

The people I worked with, the chaos of it… we had way too much fun for a fast-food job.

I had friends working at the Taco Bell next door, and we’d swap free lunches like it was some kind of underground system.

After that, there were a handful of retail jobs… and then I kind of fell into what became my career.

I ended up working for two really great companies. The last one I was with for close to 15 years before I finally decided I’d had enough.

When I moved to Washington, I realized how much having a job had always shaped my life.

It gave me structure.
Routine.
Validation, if I’m being honest.

And I wasn’t quite ready to just… not have that.

So, I started looking.

I took a job outside of the industry I’ve always known. I wanted something different. Something that felt like it might have a little more meaning.

I didn’t love it.

Maybe I didn’t give it enough time… but something about it just didn’t click.

After that, I took a temporary role back in the industry I knew. It was supposed to be short-term, just helping clean some things up.

There was a chance it could turn into something more permanent, and I was open to that.

But in March, they let me know the role was shifting into something that didn’t really fit me… and that my last day would be April 17.

And weirdly, I’m not panicking about it.

A few years ago, when I left my long-term job, I took a year off.

The first week felt like a vacation.
By the second… I felt completely off.

Like I didn’t quite know what to do with myself.

This time feels different.

I’m planning to take about a month before jumping back into something new.

But now I actually have a sense of how I want to spend that time.

Classes.
Gardens. (two… soon to be three)
A little bit of travel.

I’m starting to build out something that feels less like “filling time” … and more like choosing how I want to spend it.

And I guess we’ll see if I actually let myself do that.