QUITTING WORK

“What? You are going to quit work? How are you to survive not having anything to do? Wouldn’t you get terribly bored? You shouldn’t waste your talent and education!!”  This was what I heard from almost everyone when I quit my high flying job to join my husband in a small town. None of them could imagine anyone doing that. Neither could they understand why was I so happy about doing it too!!

I don’t blame them. After spending so many years working hard to reach where I was (being academically sound, graduating from a good college and working in a reputed firm with a high pay), anyone would have faced those questions. I was fairly ambitious when I was a child, wanting to reach high in the corporate world. However growing up had a sobering effect on my ambitions. I wanted less and less to be successful in the corporate sense. My aspirations became independent of what people would think about me. A need for change had become prominent.

Hence I didn’t think twice about quitting. Of course I had periods of discomfort with the thought that I wouldn’t be earning any money but I was quite optimistic that this decision would give me an opportunity to explore new arenas. So I packed my bags, left my life as I knew it and started out on a new journey filled with hopes and new dreams (all my old ones have already been achieved :P)

Not working has been an amazing experience. Over the past 6 months I have dome more things from my life’s ‘To Do’ list than in all the previous years of my existence. I learnt how to drive and swim. I went cycling regularly, read lots of books, tried new recipes and spend a lot of time gardening. Not to speak of my travels, places visited and the new things I learnt. I have ventured my first few steps in art too – designing clothes and painting. I stay in a beautifully tranquil place, surrounded by nature and beautiful people. I have never been more at peace with myself. Without my mind being taxed with a thousand things to do, it has found time to calm down and learnt to think more deeply. It is quite an enriching experience – to have time for you to think and know yourself better. To know that this is not a temporary situation but a state I could always have if I choose is a comforting thought.

Frankly I do not know how long this utopian mental state will last. I occasionally get urges to do more important things. But it is definite that I do not see any reason for me to plunge myself into a busy schedule doing twenty different things with time for none. I would rather pursue one meaningful work and live life in the present instead of watching it rushing by.

Work no longer is a part of my identity!! (And I continue to make my friends from the corporate world jealous ;))