Resigned

On June 23rd, I formally resigned my position as marketing coordinator and conveyance projects manager at the plastics firm where I've worked the last 11 years. It wasn't a hard decision. On the marketing side of my position, I'd learned a lot. But handling conveyance projects was not a good fit and, truthfully, I wasn't very good at it. Still, there was more driving my decision than the difficulty of the job.

Last fall I co-lead a Sunday evening class for the high school students at our church. The subject was life ambitions and dreams and it was open to any interested student in grades nine through twelve. Participants were encouraged to talk about their dreams and goals for school, college, and career. Then they were encouraged to bring those dreams before God and to circle them in regular, persistent prayer.

Over the course of the six-week elective, I was blessed with the opportunity to interact with some 20+ students and to listen to them talk about what they wanted to do in life. A follow-up class this past February took students further in their "Big Dreams" by helping them define steps for setting and achieving goals.

I don't remember when, but sometime during the preparation, teaching, and discussion, it came to me that I wasn't exactly walking the talk when it came to dreams and goals. Sure, I had done lots of things in life and learned a lot. But most of what I'd achieved was job-related, and the thought that I might be bit hypocritical when it came to my dreams disturbed me. I felt like I'd missed something, something that maybe I'd been created to do and had willfully ignored.

That nagging thought held on for weeks after the classes were finished. Finally, I was reminded of an old dream, one with roots that went back to my teen years (maybe even further) but wasn't really formed until 20 years ago:

I wanted to work for myself as a writer, illustrator, and publication designer. 

No time like the present, I guess.