The Why

The Why.

So, I’ve had a lot of people asking me, “Why are you doing this”? To be quite honest, it all boils down to why not? I have spent my entire life doing the things people tell me I should, go to school, get good grades, go to college, and get a job. I have done all of those things yet something is still missing. So after five years of being in the working world I decided it was time to do something that I want to do.  To shine a light on a piece of me that might allow me to capture that burning feeling I have. That feeling that tells me there is so much more out there than just a paycheck. Granted I realized that for some this is their dream and I am not downplaying that in any way, shape or form. It’s just not my dream.

I have been fortunate enough to land in an awesome job that affords me the luxury to save up enough money to make this dream of mine come true. I am 26 going on 27 with no financial responsibilities and no personal responsibilities. I know what I’m “risking” but that so called risk is much less than what I could find by chasing down my dream, by shining that light on a piece of me that’s been neglected because it’s not the “safe” play. I’ve sat and listened to people say things like oh I wish I did this or oh I wish I did that, so I guess that’s exactly what I’m trying to avoid while also being true to myself and my passions.

I saw a skit from Bill Burr a while back and it was something along the lines of, “You know what’s worse than sleeping on a futon at 30? Sleeping in a king bed next to a woman you’re not really in love with but for some reason you married, got a couple kids and a job you hate. You’ll be laying there fantasizing about sleeping on that futon. There’s no risk when you go after a dream it’s all reward, it’s all going to lead to something good. It always does. There’s a tremendous amount of risk to playing it safe and that leads to unbelievable levels of regret”.  I don’t know why but for some reason that thought really stuck with me and I can’t say that was the jumping off point for this trip but that mindset definitely played a role in it. Most of my older co-workers give me the, why would you leave a job like this and most of the time I just smile and say I don’t know but every now and again I’ll just remind them about the stories they’ve told me about what they wish they could have done.  It’s kind of an enlightening experience to watch their mind roll back to that exact moment when they choose to play it safe rather than chase a dream.  It’s normally in that exact moment that they understand “The Why”.