I recently quit my job with no other job lined up.
I'm not moving on to another job. I'm just moving on with my life. I'm planning to take roughly a year long sabbatical, starting next Friday.
I am incredibly privileged to be able to do this – from the circumstances of my birth and forward through my life. I owned a house young (bought after the 08 housing collapse) and have been extremely successful in professional careers. I married a woman who is both incredibly supportive and also had an immense amount of privilege. We were student loan free within 4 years of college graduation. I know this seems like a lot of disclaimer to put out there and it is only the surface of what has allowed me to be in this place, but I think if we don't acknowledge it, we create a false perception that we got here through hard work and tenacity. And listen, there was plenty of that too.
I have been working for 25-26 years. In college, I picked up my first set of 2 full time jobs (almost 20 years ago). And, outside of a brief window when we moved, I have been working 60+ hours for my entire adult life. I had nearly 2 years where I worked every single day. When I finally was able to work one job at ~40 hours a week, I started a full time band that included touring. That lasted for almost a decade between two bands.
In this job, I have worked 60+ hours for most of my time. I am on call 7 days a week. I traveled (NC, VA, FL, CO, SC, GA, AL, LA, IL). I have been working, for better or for worse, the equivalent of a full time and part time job for roughly 20 years.
I am 40 years old and am expected, at the least to work for 25 more years. People used to retire after working one full time job for 20-25 years. So, I'm taking some time away. I'm going to try and work on some creative projects. Writing, music and maybe even a board game. Definitely taking our channel more seriously!
All of this is only possible because of my wife, who is not able to join me on this unfortunately. But she does have a job she enjoys at a company that does their best to value their employees. And I will be taking the lions share of household duties over completely. Cleaning, cooking, grocery shopping, financial budgeting, organization and more.
I feel a little aimless right now, but I have been writing about it.