Risk.
It’s both a frightening word and an exciting word.
I started my official journey as a graphic designer and web developer in 2001 when I made the decision to leave the major I’d invested in for two years, engineering, to pursue a career in, what was then, my hobby. When I began creating websites in 1998, I never dreamed that it was something that could become a vocation. Yet, in 2001, I made one of the biggest decisions of my life, one I had agonized over for months, and changed course.
More often than not, our lives end up looking very different than the one we dreamed for ourselves. In 2001, I dreamed that I’d have the flexibility to live and work anywhere in the country, rather than in the limited areas where the aerospace engineering degree I was seeking would land me. I dreamed that I might be able to focus a bit more on the family that I hoped for. I dreamed that one day, when I had children, I might be able to work for myself, from my home, and give them the kind of family life I had always wished I had growing up. More than a decade later, I’m changing course again.
At the end of March, I’ll be leaving the job I’ve held for nearly 5 years and will be working for myself. These last few months have been a case study of sorts. When John and I learned that I was pregnant this past July, something we had hoped and longed for for more than a year, we knew things were going to be changing. I began taking on as much freelance work as I could handle and have essentially worked two jobs since then. It’s been a grueling workload, but an important step in deciding if this risk was something we could handle.