We Quit the day job and embraced Life
Maybe we’d reached that age and time to quit the day job and embrace life. We’d been feeling trapped between the exhaustion of working forever, but not yet reaching the age of the golden handshake. We weren’t quite age-ready for a time-served, congratulatory certificate and boring, yet obligatory staff retirement party.
Looking back, we’d been caught up for too long in a work cycle that drags you down. Maybe you know the type we mean, where our ambitions for wider life enjoyment took over. Yes, that need for fulfilment of something other than work and an urge for adventure had taken over.
Leaving Work Behind
The restless side began a few years before. Both of us had worked straight from school, this was before the days of most people going off to university or taking gap years. Back in the 80’s things were different, we were married at 19 and 20 years old and worked 7 days a week.
With a young family, our twenties were happy times of raising our growing Son’s and a business! We loved it but worked hard throughout the decades to ensure financial stability for our family.
By the time our children had finished in education, we started to get itchy feet and we began the plan of leaving work behind.
Grown up Children
Our children are were all grown up and ready to venture out into the big wide world. When they started on a busy career path, we realised they no longer needed the warm surroundings of the family home. We’ve always been a close family unit. We felt bonded at the edges and always around for advice, guidance and support.
However, the chicks had feathers and could fly! As they took off on their own, fresh, new and exciting directions, we became free again ourselves.
It was Liberating
Leaving negativity and materialism behind
Now was the time for us to do something new and adventurous. A time for rebellion against the pessimistic out there and against consumerism too.
We’d begun to get fed up with materialism and the repetition of every day life. So for us, was also a time to ditch the old and embrace the new.
We decided to leave negative people and attitudes out of our lives. For us, it was an opportunity to discover new places and surround ourselves with those interesting and stimulating personalities instead. A positive outlook and an honest, genuine approach to life was needed. Somehow we wanted to regain our faith in good intentions and restore our faith in human nature.
We did it and quit the day job
It’s a big wide world out there and we all know it. How many of us want to see more of it? Many of us talk about making that decision to quit the day job, but few of us take action.
Talking about something and actually doing it is so hard in many ways. In 2016, we took that giant leap of faith and actually quit the day job!
We closed our business for the last time and started to plan for a new life ahead. The following day, we drove off into France for some relaxation on the French Riviera. A tour of the Netherland’s followed, along with shorter breaks closers to home in Wales.
The big adventure really began in 2017, when we embarked on a 6-month road trip across Australia.This trip cemented the dream for more adventure travel and we’ve never looked back.
The only decisions we have now, are of where to go and when! 5 years on, the journey is as exciting as ever, the decision to quit the day job was the best we’ve made.
We all should just embrace life and if you can, make those changes, after all we only have one life and we do all deserve to make the most of it!
