How Quitting My Job Built Bridges Instead Of Burning Them

It’s a brand new week! A fresh chance to make the choices that align with who YOU are and want to be.

But making those decisions isn’t always easy or popular.

When I quit my tenured, high-paying job, no one understood why.

Did you get a different job?
Are you going back to school?
What will you be doing?

I won’t be doing I told them – I’ll be being.

I had no plan, no master vision, just an unshakable feeling that I had to let go and allow myself to be guided.

I had to prepare myself. For what, I didn’t know. But I knew I had to do the deep inner work to get ready for whatever was coming.

Apparently that’s an unacceptable answer for most people….

They asked me:

How can you leave a job in this economy?
What about your retirement?
How will you get health insurance?

I told them I wasn’t scared. I wasn’t afraid of being “insecure” in the ways they were.

In response, I was laughed at, told I was unstable, accused of having a break down.

It seems the only way to rationalize me making a different choice from them was to discredit me entirely.

I won’t lie, it hurt.

My friends, family, colleagues – all of a sudden I didn’t know who I could trust. Everyone seemed to be judging me or trying to manipulate my choices.

But I wasn’t willing to deny my truth to make others comfortable. Now when I see myself do it in subtle, sneaky ways, I expose those aspects of me to the light of my full truth so they can’t accommodate others again.

At the time I put a lot of energy into soothing others’ fears. I turned it into a chance for healing – for both them and me. A chance for others to recognize their own insecurities and desires, and for me to listen with compassion and explore my priorities.

What did they need to feel safe?
What did they secretly want to do that they’re not pursuing?
What dream or disappointment was this triggering in them?

Quitting became a beautiful process.

I got to connect with people on a true heart level.

I got to hear about their dreams and what they wish they had the courage to do. I got to see their fears and how they clung to their jobs like a mothers teat, afraid they’d never survive alone. I got insight into how they prioritized, censored, and compromised themselves to live a life they thought they needed to.

Their stories inspired me to pursue the abyss of hopeful not-knowing even more.

To step up against a mediocre life and say “I deserve greatness!”

So I walked away. From a career and people I loved. I moved across the world to break all ties so I could make space to hear my voice above the drone of others’ reservations.

The rest wasn’t easy – doing your work never is. But it’s been worth it.

If you know you’re meant for a bold move – to stand out and do what only you know is right – you’re not alone.

You can do it. You can start now, even if it’s just by owning up to what you really want.

Don’t let being labelled “crazy” stop you. At least you’ll be in good company 🙂

Be free. Be brave. Be YOU!

Love,
Alexis

(VP of the Crazy Club)

p.s. If you’re planning a big change but aren’t sure when, here’s my 5-step strategy for planning your exit: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/alexis-pierce/ready-to-quit-your-job-5s_b_6215750.html