Working for myself has been a dream of mine for a very long
time. When I was
younger my grandfather, a landscape designer, retired from
working for an employer at age 65 and started working for himself. He loved
what he did for a living, and he relished the freedom of working on his own
time and in his own way. With a drafting table set up in the basement, he
worked hard—sometimes in the morning, sometimes at night—making his vision for
a design come to life with pencil and marker. It was an example that made an
enormous impression on me.
My ultimate fantasy, of course, is to be a full-time writer—to
earn my income and spend my days weaving stories and plotting happy endings.
However, I’ve never been able to convince my husband to let me quit my day job
based on the hope that I would one day become a wildly successful published
author. I always tried to view his reservations less as a lack of faith in my
talent and more as the practical views of an accountant. I decided to be
practical too. If I wanted to work for myself, I’d have to diversify my skill
set.
So two years ago I took my dash of artistic ability, no doubt
inherited from Grandpa, and started taking web design and development classes
at my local community college. The classes were all offered online, so I could
balance them with my day job and the scattered hours I spared for my writing.
In order to practice what I was learning, I began creating book covers and other graphic design items for authors,
at first for free, just to build up my portfolio.
Now, two years later, I have finally left my day job and work
for myself full-time at my design venture, Gilded Heart Design. It has been a lifestyle revolution for me, forcing the development of skills beyond design. Every day I am honing my abilities related
self-discipline, time management, and organization. I try new things and
discover what works for me. Learning efficient and simple processes is my
new obsession.
And something strange has happened. I am working longer hours
than I ever have in my life. And I’m happy about it. I am also carving out
regular writing time in a more focused and productive way. My only complaint is
that there isn’t more time in each day to keep working and writing.
I’ve always believed in the call to “do what you love.” I
just never lived it before. It has been a scary step and my husband is still
dubious it was the right one. But I am doing what makes me happy, work that
feeds my soul. I have claimed my bliss, and I never want to go back.
How have you claimed your bliss?
