When passion overcomes comfort

On January 9th I made a post that stated there were a lot of new things happening this year, well today officially set it all in stone. Today will probably be remembered as one of the most important days of my life. I can’t recall ever making a decision, knowingly, that would completely change the way I would be living my life from that point on. Today — I officially announced that in two weeks I would be resigning my position as a web ‘designer’ for my job of nearly 5 years.

I’m leaving my job to basically work with my friends and their businesses, mainly The Bboy Spot. I won’t just be changing occupations, I’ll be relocating as well. Now, when you leave a job for another, one might assume that money is the main motivator. Well for me it isn’t. Money is probably the last thing that motivated me to want to change occupations. I’ve found something that I feel, should I remain dedicated, would allow me to become a better person, designer, and student. The road will be a bit rough since I’ll have to be a bit more frugal and careful since I’ll be giving up things like healthcare and 401k. In exchange, I’ll be able to get paid for something I probably won’t consider ‘working’. What is 6-8 hours to you on a Saturday playing video games to working on Monday? This might be exactly that difference (though I won’t be playing video games) . I’ll also be very receptive to learning new things, in the same way I was when I luckily struck my job 5 years ago. Additionally I feel that this will be a point where I’ll begin to receive recognition for the work that I do. That’s plenty of motivation for me to do great work. Thousands of people around the world will be interacting with what I help design and develop, something that might even be the ‘next big thing’ in that industry. Take that and compare it to feeling like a workhorse creating the same graphics and websites for the rest of my life. I didn’t have to think twice.

In short, I’m giving up a “comfortable” job here where I don’t really have to work too hard to get a pay check in exchange for a career where my passion in what I do will allow me to do great work. I’ll be surrounded by other creatives and positive people who are also passionate, which helps keep us all motivated and me on my toes. I’m chasing my love and happiness, and I encourage anyone that’s in a situation they don’t want to be in to do the same. Forget about comfort. Failure, despite its meaning, is still progression – doing nothing is what will prevent you from going anywhere.

And nowhere, is a sad place to be.