Serendipity, change and kindred spirits
As I mentioned the other week, I have resigned from the public service. I am still here for another week, but making the decision to pursue my dreams and focus on making sure I'm okay has created some significant changes over the last couple of weeks.
I feel a great sense of relief, which makes me even more confident that I am doing the right thing. I also have a great deal of nervous energy, which I have found a little challenging to direct at times, but I think I have that sussed now.
One of the most interesting things is the amount of responses from my work colleagues that are "I'm so jealous that you are following your dreams" or "It's so inspiring that you have the courage to do this". There's this little part of the conversations that I've had with people that really make me feel like I have to succeed for them, that I'm carrying all of their dreams along with my own into this next step.
It made me wonder about how many people never get the ability to follow their dreams, or sit in jobs that they hate just to pay the bills, because they don't feel they can change it. I understand that I am in a bit of a unique position, that we could have survived for a while without me having a job. However, I would not be able to progress my business idea without getting some part time work to build up some capital. So I have been very fortunate in finding a job that I think will support the development process.
This was a blog post that I started writing the other week, but didn't get around to finishing. It was going to be about change and how many people have considered these big changes like leaving a job or moving interstate as extremely courageous, but they aren't the ones I'm scared of. It was also going to be about how people should be more willing to take on the risk of change, because it really can be such a wonderful thing to pursue your dreams.This is where the serendipity comes inThen I got my regular email from Scott Berkun outlining some of his blog posts, and the title of this one struck me Changing your life is not a (mid-life) crisis. I don't know whether life throws these things in your way when you are thinking of a certain topic, or by thinking of it you are just more in tune with seeing the topic you're focused on - either way I love it when this sort of thing happens.So I read the post, which has some very valid points form my experience, and left a comment (because as a blogger I know how nice feedback can be). This is where it gets a little weird. Scott tweeted about My Year of TED and the blog (which raised my pageviews a bit) and a couple of his followers retweeted as well.One of these was a woman called Saya Hillman, and I noticed in her blurb that she was a TEDx speaker. I looked up her talk from TEDxBloomington called How to define a life of yes! Everything in that talk resonated with me. So much of it was things I learned and things I want to achieve from My Year of TED - it was like finding a kindred spirit. I've been looking through what Mac & Cheese Productions (her company) do, and I love the ideas - in some ways she is living the life I want to have. In other ways there is a difference to how she is doing things, but I can see such similarities in how I am picturing my business venture and the energy she has in hers.Have you made any changes in your life that people think are a 'mid-life' crisis? Or are you like me and lucky enough to be surrounded by supportive people who can see the benefits in change?