After 8 years of working in an office and losing my job. I came to a crossroads in my life where I was offered by a bank to be a senior accountant for 80k per year and on the other hand a friend offered me a job for $15 an hour to help start his music instrument repair business.
I was listening to an album by a band called “The Dear Hunter” at the time and this one song called “Middle Class” came on. Many of the lyrics resonated with me because they described exactly how I felt working my mundane accounting job looking at spreadsheets every single day.
The lyrics:
- “So when you are assigned to turn one and one to three.
- Do your job or go the way of the refugee
- Like most of us, you'll come to see that we may never leave
- But if we could
- Believe us! Believe us! Oh yeah, we got it so good”
But the lines that really stuck with me and I kept repeating in my mind after hearing them:
“When at the end of the day we’ve realized, we’re just doing time….They got you buying your chains….”
That’s when it hit me, for no amount of money would I spend another minute in an office looking at spreadsheets. I realized there are thousands of people out there that see corporate America the way I do.
Leaving corporate America and choosing to repair musical instruments for a living was the best thing that ever happened to me.
I love being around music. The people and young students I get to help and meet are so genuine and grateful. The work is meaningful and I gained something I never found in the office. A sense of purpose everyday! I could see the positive effects of my work with the community and I have never felt so fulfilled!
Just for added context I’m not married, have no kids, and I have roommates. I realize quitting a job with income needed to support people is not good advice for everyone. But I encourage you if you’re not happy with your current job, there are different paths you can take. I am living proof that you can escape office life! I used to think having hobbies and traveling while being miserable at my job was fine, but I realized it's not enough for me to live like that day to day just eager for the weekends and the 15 days PTO my company allowed. You can love your job and be valuable to the community at the same time!
Here is the song in case anyone wants to listen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhtU8p8onSk