OMG! I left my job!

Does your job make you happy?

It's a simple question, but not an easy answer.

Let me rephrase the question; are you doing something that, when you wake up in the morning, you're excited to go and do?

Yes, no?

Here's a scarier question, if the answer is no, why are you doing what you obviously don't like?

I was faced with this question recently, and it was one of the most difficult questions I've faced.

Things had changed pretty drastically for me in recent months and I had come to the realization I wasn't passionate about my job.

I was, of course, still showing up and doing my job, but I was basically checking in and checking out without really investing myself too deeply into what I was doing.

This bothered me. I was spending hours, days, weeks, months going through the motions and wasting my time doing something I no longer loved.

When I imagined my life, I always imagined myself doing something special, something I could be proud of, something I was passionate about.

I imagined, like so many successful people I looked up to, that I would have a great purpose and I would be following that dream. 

I looked at my life now and realized I was not living up to that standard.

I needed to start making a change, but I couldn't just leave. With my cushy salary, my flexible work-life balance, and my comfortable lifestyle, I was trapped in the life I had created for myself.

Yet, the longer I stayed, the more it began to eat at me.

Why are we placed on this Earth?

Are we born to grind for our entire lives just to retire exhausted, and then do nothing? Is this really what life is all about?

Shouldn't we be doing something that, at the very least, makes us happy and fulfilled?

Sure, everyone has to work, but if we are going to invest the majority of our lives into doing something, then shouldn't that something, be something amazing?

I pondered these questions until I came to an impasse. I realized I had made a trade-off; I was exchanging the greatest years of my life doing something I hated, for the benefit of a low, middle-class lifestyle.

My adequate lifestyle was so important that I was willing to sacrifice my dreams  for it. And the sad reality — I was neither rich in life or in finances and if I stayed where I was, I was never going to be either.

I was living the definition of insanity, doing the same thing every day and expecting a different result. No wonder I wasn't happy.

This was it, this was when I committed myself to making a change. Damn my fears; damn the risks; damn my safety blanket, it was time to took a leap of faith.

Making a leap of faith

Ironically, when I decided on my 12 goals back in January, I had scheduled myself to have September be the month I would attempt to start a business.

Little did I know then that this business wouldn't be a small side project or entrepreneurial experiment, that this would be the month I fully stepped out on my own and started a business as my career.

Over the last eight months, I have invested countless hours into building the Scale My Life brand.

I've always loved marketing and this was an amazing opportunity to experiment and learn as I went. It was this fun and virtually care-free environment that allowed me to really practise and develop out my skills in social media and blogging.

It's with these new skills and my passion for working with entrepreneurs to help them share their story that I'd like to announce my decision to launch my own online and social media marketing company.

I won't lie. The prospect scares the living hell out of me. I know that for all I've learned that there's lots I still have to learn, but I think at a certain point you just have to put aside the fear of the unknown and just believe in yourself.

Believe that you'll hustle to make it work and that no one really knows all the answers, but you can commit to to finding them.

I don't know where this leap of faith will take me, I don't know how much it'll cost me, but I do know I'm happier than I've been in a very long time. I have control over my life which offers me a great sense of excitement and optimism.

I may be unemployed, but after this month, one way or another, I'm committed to becoming self-employed and self-sufficient.

This article is written by or on behalf of an outsourced columnist and does not necessarily reflect the views of Castanet.