30-Year Anniversary Celebration of the Event that Never Happened

Today I am celebrating the 30-year anniversary of the event that never happened in my life. Today, I would have worked at the same place for 30 years. THIRTY YEARS! That’s a long time – most of my adult working life. But that anniversary did not happen. Why you ask? Feeling burned out, stressed, on the cusp of health issues, and just not being where my heart and soul wanted to be anymore, I left after 28 ½ years to grow my own career and executive leadership coaching business. After all, how could I coach someone to leave their job and pursue their dream, if I could not do it myself.

So today, I celebrate me! I no longer feel stressed, I awake before my alarm goes off in the morning excited to see what the new day will bring, free of most of the medications I was prescribed for my digestive issues, and grateful to have this opportunity to help people in the way that I want to help them; without a task force, meeting, committee, or policy implementation to decide the way in which it must be done. Now the only person that can hold me back from growth and trying new things is me.   What a liberating feeling!

A big-business environment offers known variables; stable income, a benefits package, paid vacation and sick time, paid holidays, and a nice work space. But I was ready to trade all of that for the excitement of the unknown, the ability to travel whenever I choose to, the freedom to set my own hours, not feeling sick enough to need paid sick time off, and the ability to sit on my back porch in the middle of the day with my cat and creatively write or think – void of a time clock and interruptions other than to hear the birds singing in the trees.

The transition from employee to entrepreneur is one of mindset, first, and foremost. It also involves courage, initiative, a willingness to try new things, thinking outside of the box, good decision-making skills, flexible work hours, motivation, inspiration, and a little bit of perspiration. Most of these traits are lost on corporate, because they defy policy, procedure, protocol, and following the rules. But for me – today’s celebration was so worth it!