I’m not posting this for self-promotion, but to try and inspire someone that needs to hear it.
From the time I finished high school, I’ve worked in warehouses. I got pretty good on a forklift and always had success, but I never liked going to work. I didn’t want to spend my life making someone else rich.
I think this subreddit clicks with me because I’m not “lazy”, I’m happy to contribute to society and earn my way, I just want to do it on my own terms and “work to live, not live to work”.
I took a job at a large shipping supply warehouse when I was 31 (I don’t know if I’m allowed to name them, but they’re a huge company in North America. Starts with a ‘U’ and you’ve probably received 300 of their catalogs this year). The pay was decent but the place was like a cult. Mandatory overtime, everyone had to take turns on weekends, obligated to go to company events; etc.
I started going to open mics for comedy shortly after I started that job, because I’d always wanted to, and I was sick of just work, play vids, sleep, repeat. I got really into comedy, and for 10 months I’d hit open mics at night, and then work from 5am – 3pm during the day.
Then the company tried to force me onto the graveyard shift. I said no, because it interferes with my comedy in the evenings, and they really soured on me.
Shortly after that, they told me that they wanted me to be in a comedy video. They have every branch in the company recreate a scene from a movie, but with employees playing the owners (Dick & Liz) in the scene. They then pay everyone OT to stay late and watch all the different videos. I said I didn’t want to, and they said “we’re not asking, we’re telling”, and proceeded to yell at me in front of the warehouse staff.
I’d be a comedian for 10 months at that point, I was 32 with a mortgage, and comedy was paying maybe $200/weekend. But my girlfriend said “fuck that, fuck them. Quit.” So I did. I walked out while they were filming and never talked to them again.
I started hitting mics like crazy, and launched a podcast for exposure and to get more time behind a microphone. It took about 5 years of grinding and not having any money, but I now make a great living doing something I love, and I work for myself.
So if you have a dream and you’re working a job you hate, start chasing. You don’t have to quit tomorrow, but you can’t reach a goal if you don’t start walking. I’m not particularly talented or connected. I just knew I wanted to take control of my life and took my shot. If I can do it, so can you.
TL:DR – I quit my job at 32 to chase a dream, and after a lot of grinding, it paid off. Bet on yourself, always.
Good luck!