Resolve: Month End

we three // wee free

So, things have been ticking along on the (un)employment front since the beginning of the year and I've mostly been feeling pretty confident that this is the right decision for us, now.  We've been talking excitedly about the future in a way we hadn't for a while. Hatching up plans and dreams.  Healthwise I feel much better - calmer, putting on weight, everything feels like it's regaining equilibrium.

I finish in the office this week and it's finally starting to seem real (as I sit and contemplate the stack of files I need to go through to leave things in some semblance of a comprehensible order).

In terms of next steps, I'm quite excited to be "transitioning to a consultancy role" for the time being, for a few hours a week, but having flexibility over my time and working from home.

I've always wanted to work from home. I mean, I have a cupboard full of pyjamas and not enough hours in the night to wear them all. I kid, I kid. But not really.

I am not sure how it will work out but I am pretty pleased as it seems like a good way to soften the shock of no longer fee-earning both financially and psychologically. And it pitches way better to concerned family members than "I'm quitting. No, I don't know what I'm doing next", which is a bonus.

The benefit of increased control over my time shuffles alongside the drawback of being very much an ad hoc, freelance arrangement without the security of full-time employment.  I've never had to deal with that before (having taken a very linear route careerwise from law school to training contract to qualification and associate life) and, like a lot of this stuff, the prospect seems both exciting and a little scary. Like the wind blasting you full in the face, forcing air into your lungs.  Certainly wakes you up.

But the other, real pit-in-the-stomach making, drawback is that the lack of salaried security means our hopes of a mortgage are receding, at least for now.  Right this second, I feel pretty sad and a bit guilty about that. Two more years of renting in London is thousands and thousands of pounds down the proverbial drain. And I would so love a house for Mister G, maybe even a little garden.  It's when I think about this, and the things I want to be able to provide for G, that I remember why it seems smart to stay in a sensible job with a sensible paycheck and scratch off the years of a mortgage looking at the clock.
 
And then I try to remind myself to pause and step back, to think of the other things I want to be able to provide for G; happy parents, family time, a life lived intentionally. We are totally fortunate - we'll keep a roof over our heads and food on the table. We have families that love us and we love each other. 

We'll make it work. We'll make it work. We'll make it work.

Have you made a career change? or do you know somebody that has?  I would love, love, love to hear your story and a bit about your process, if you'd care to share?

Please feel free to drop me an email on the address on the right, all inspiration so very welcome.

xxppxx