I’m not very open on social media. I pretty much only share the good stuff – which most people do. And though this is ultimately a “good” story, I decided to share what I’ve been up to these past few months and some of the tough things I’ve taken on.

When I’m completely honest with myself, I knew 3 weeks after my start date at UPS on August 26, 2013 that I’d made a mistake leaving my old job. Layers of bureaucracy and a very conservative culture made for a pretty miserable work environment for my open-minded and liberal self. I could go into more detail but I won’t. It’s not really necessary for this story for me to go on about all the ways UPS and the jobs I had there weren’t right for me. 

While I probably stayed too long, I had major life events happening outside of work that took most of my focus – our engagement and wedding, honeymoon, selling a house, buying a house and moving. Once the dust settled from our move last summer, though, the unhappiness that had always been there about work came rushing to the surface. By the beginning of this year, it was obvious that it was negatively impacting me physically, emotionally and mentally – and affecting my relationship with my husband. Being unhappy and unfulfilled at a place where I was spending most of my waking hours was not working for me. I’d been interviewing for other jobs and while I was well-connected and qualified for those jobs, I wasn’t getting them. I wasn’t confident or happy and I believe it came across in my interviews no matter how positive I tried to be. I knew I needed to make a big change. 

I began running numbers, going through our finances and tracking our spending more closely. I came up with a plan and I talked to Sean. This was at the beginning of February. We agreed that if I didn’t have a new job by the middle of April, after our big trip to Europe, I would put in my two weeks notice. I didn’t find another job and so at the end of April, I quit my job at UPS. 

It’s a pretty scary thing to leave a fairly stable, well-paying job with benefits and plunge into the unknown. There was a quote I read right before I put in my notice that strengthened my resolve: “Sometimes you have to jump and grow your wings on the way down.”

I ultimately felt that if I needed to get a job, any job, to help us out financially I would. And if that was the worst/least desirable outcome, then it wasn’t really that bad. 

I wanted a more “customized” life. I didn’t want to have to sit in an office for a pre-determined number of hours everyday to “show my face.” I wanted to do more than paper-push through ridiculous levels of hierarchy. I wanted to work creatively and I wanted to have time for my own hobbies and passions and pursuits. I didn’t know what any of that would look like for me as I began my summer with no job to go to. But I believe I filled these past four months well and with things that have mattered to me. 

I’ve spent the summer traveling, visiting family, cooking, baking, sewing, going for walks, snuggling with my sweet pups, interviewing, and contemplating starting my own business. I’ve had time to spend with friends and even been named a “lifesaver” on occasion because I was home and able to help out in a pinch. And that felt good.

It wasn’t always perfect, though. I was getting contacted to interview for a lot of jobs, but I didn’t get any offers and that affected my confidence and caused me some stress. Like, what if I couldn’t get another job even if I needed to? Was I ever going to work again? What did I want to do? 

And that question, asked over and over, finally led me to some answers. My “pie in the sky” answer was to start a career coaching business. And then supplement with freelance work, preferably within the advertising industry where I have many contacts and lots of experience. I wanted to live life on my terms – working when I needed to on things that interest me and then having time in between to pursue my passions.

Around the end of July, I started making some moves towards both of these things. I began reaching out to my friends and former colleagues at various agencies to let them know I was a resource for overflow work. I bought a domain for my business and began doing research to determine services to offer, rates, etc. I had lunch with a few former colleagues who wanted to use my services and things started to kick off. Within a couple of weeks, I had two paying clients. One was someone I knew and one was a referral from a friend. I was feeling much more confident. I knew it was going to take time and effort to build a business but all of my feedback was so positive and consistent across clients (both paying and pro-bono) that I knew I was more than capable of making this work.

And I found that I loved the flexibility of working for a few hours on a resume for someone and still having time to run errands or try a new recipe. As my energy became more positive and upbeat, I began to feel better all around. I told the universe what I wanted and put my energy into it.

And then it found me. “It” being the complete story, the complete picture, the full circle. The universe delivered. A recruiter reached out to me about a job. Not just any job. A short-term contract job with an agency called POSSIBLE doing strategy. It was exactly the kind of gig I’d wanted and the role itself sounded great. I decided to channel all of my newfound confidence I’d gained from my career coaching work into my interviews for this opportunity. I had a phone interview on the Thursday after Labor Day with the recruiter and was on-site the very next day meeting with 3 key team members. It went well – so well, in fact, that I had a verbal offer by 6pm that SAME DAY and with the feedback that I was the unanimous top choice by everyone I’d met with. My final contract came later that night and with more money than I’d even asked for. Wow.

And so I start tomorrow, September 19th, with POSSIBLE where I’ll be the Sr. Strategist for Content and Social working onsite at Coke’s technology center on Coca-Cola, Diet Coke, Coke Zero and Coke Life. Yes, those are some of the biggest brands in the entire world. Yes, I am beyond excited.

I’m excited to go back to work. I’m excited to have gotten a short-term contract like I wanted. I’m excited that I’ll have options when the contract is done, such as focusing again on my own business or maybe going on another contract. I’m excited to meet new people and maybe make some new friends. I’m excited that I had a few months off to just BE. 

And while I’m excited about the future, I’m also proud of myself for taking a huge risk and not giving up on going after what I wanted. I was discouraged at times, uncertain at times, afraid at times and stressed at times. But I took that leap of faith back in April and gave myself some time and space to not only figure out what I want this next phase of my life to look like, but also to go after it. The next three months are going to be busy and hectic but I love that it’s temporary. That there will be something different at the end of three months – and that it’ll be up to me to decide what that is. Anything is possible and this is my customized life.

P.S. I’d like to add that I had a lot of support along the way from my friends, family and of course my wonderful husband who also never stopped believing in me or supporting me. Learning that I can’t and don’t need to do it alone was key for me this summer and something that I think will benefit me from here on out.