When you reach a fork in the road

As I write this, I’m in my first week of a full-time, work-from-home, freelance writing career.

It still blows my mind that I can even write that sentence. Last Thursday was my last day at a job I’ve held for more than 6 years. I left the comfort of office life + daily seeing co-workers who turned into close friends to pursue a flexible freelance schedule. To say I have mixed emotions about all of this would be an understatement!

Ever since graduating college back in 2009, I’ve done the 8 to 5. I’ve clocked in and out. I’ve worked in an office, a cubicle, with customers, and without. I’ve learned more Excel shortcuts than anyone ever needs to know, I’ve answered a bajillion phone calls, and I’ve sent countless emails.

Quitting all of that to freelance from home full-time has created a large and somewhat unexpected shift in schedule, routine, and comfort. It feels like starting over in the best and worst ways.

Somewhere between 2009 Kris who dreamt of pantsuits as an executive in an office somewhere and 2023 Kris who dreamt of entrepreneurship and the flexibility to work from home, a lot had changed. Lifestyle, mindset shifts, goals, intentions, and seasons of life all made me rethink my initial career objectives.

To be fair, I didn’t just wake up one day and decide to quit my job. Maybe we should start at the beginning.

Every new opportunity begins with a small idea

My entire adult life I’ve battled with this question: Is there more out there?

I don’t mean “more” like more money or job titles or things. I mean more as in different. Was I created for more, for something different? Was there more God wanted me to do with my life? What more could I leave behind on this planet when I left it? What legacy was I working to leave behind? Was there more I was meant to do, and if so, what the heck was it?

Part of this question led me to creating this very blog a few years ago. I’ve always LOVED words and stringing them together to create the perfect sentence gave me an odd satisfaction.

But 2020 was when I really started questioning the need for more.

We probably all did in one way or another.

The pandemic put life into a new perspective for me. I started to identify what was truly important to me and what really wasn’t. I realized I wanted more time with the kids, more flexibility in my schedule, and more time to write.

I tabled the idea when a few months later life returned to “normal.” But I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t always in the back of my mind. Could there be some way where I could use my writing skills to provide for my family?

I didn’t have an exact roadmap or game plan, but when an opportunity presented itself to do some freelance writing work last fall, I took it.

And that one project led to consistent work, which lead to a new client, which lead to another. And somehow (I’m guessing only by God’s graciousness), my idea to use my writing skills and work from home unfolded right in front of me.

If we were to graph out my journey from the small idea of working from home to where I am today, it would look like a squiggly line. Probably with a loopty loop here and there.

I had moments of pure doubt. I had ideas that worked and ideas that didn’t. Some days the flexible schedule idea seemed amazing, some days it seemed downright crazy.

But none of this would have ever happened if I wouldn’t have gotten curious and started investigating what my “more” was. Small ideas and simple questions can lead to new opportunities if we aren’t afraid to dig in and investigate what’s important to us and why.

The pursuit of letting go of something good to grab hold of something great

To be clear, letting go of something good to pursue something great is rarely an easy task. It means voting for change and actively choosing to take yourself out of your comfort zone. From the outside, this seems like an absolutely absurd idea. Why would we want to actively choose to stretch ourselves outside of our comfort zones?

When I knew it was time to put my full focus on freelance writing, I also knew that meant I had to leave my full-time job. Dear reader, please know that my full-time job was really, really good! I had made lifelong friendships and established a solid routine. Not to mention I was part of the most fun work environment I’d ever had over my 15ish years of working post-college.

I had to battle a lot of fears around leaving that. Fears that some of my friends would no longer be my friends (which is, of course, not true!) and fears about missing out on office camaraderie. I had to accept a few truths, too. I knew I wouldn’t be on the work group text message anymore and that I’d sincerely miss seeing many of the people I currently saw on a daily basis.

But ultimately, deep down, I knew my “more” was calling and I didn’t want to miss it.

My “more” was making work a part of my life, not a separate entity to my life. I wanted to integrate work into my life on flexible terms and not set work hours. I wanted to use my gifts to provide financially for my family. If I was going to make all of that happen, I knew I had to take the leap from something really {really} good to something great.

A Note on How to Know Which Way to Go

I really wanted to end this post by sharing some solid ways to know exactly when and how you should let go of something good to grab ahold of something great. Wouldn’t it be nice to read this and walk away with “Perfect! Now I know exactly what to do!” But the truth is, we all have different circumstances, and making hard decisions is an extremely personal choice.

All I can offer is what helped me in this process + give you some general guidelines if you’ve got an idea simmering in your heart but you’re feeling lost in the weeds:

Check in with your gut.

I know it sounds cliche, but I think we already know what decision we need to make sometimes, we’re just too afraid to go for it. Get quiet, get still, and check in with yourself. Podcaster + Business coach Jennifer Allwood always says, “I know in my knower.” What is your “knower” telling you? And has it been telling you something that you’ve been ignoring?

Pray about it, then pray some more.

I’ve had lots of conversations with God over this process. Am I doing the right thing? Am I hearing this right? Am I completely crazy?? (Well, the answer to that one is yes, but am crazy about this particular choice, too?😜)

Honestly, I don’t know that I ever heard a resounding “Yes, quit your job and go do this freelancing thing!” But I was also at peace with the decision and took my time looking at it from different angles. I had lots of conversations with Cory and The Man Upstairs before ultimately making the leap.

Sometimes “not yet” is the answer.

If I could summarize the answer to most of my prayers, it would be in these two little words: Not yet.

I like to move fast. I like to pivot and try new things and investigate different options and lean into what makes me tick, even if it’s not the best choice for myself or my family.

But hearing “not yet” doesn’t mean I give up and move on. If you’ve had an idea or a dream that you’re trying to work through, maybe the simple solution is “not yet.” Not yet means you keep going, you keep generating ideas, and you keep investigating why this dream doesn’t leave you.

Maybe now isn’t the right time for you or your family to make a big leap. But that doesn’t mean you won’t someday. Don’t give up hope! Not yet is not the same as never.

What’s Next

Guys, I still don’t know that this whole thing is going to work out. I wish I could say with more confidence that it will, but who can accurately predict the future?

There’s still a total chance that this new venture could flop! Obviously I hope not, but maybe six months from now I’ll regret my decision and go back to an office job. Or maybe AI will take over the freelancing world and I’ll run out of business.🤷‍♀️

But also.

I have a sneaking suspicion that freelance writing from home is just the beginning of something bigger in my journey. My “knower” is telling me I’m up to something here. I’m not 100% sure what that is just yet, but I just have this feeling.

Either way, all I can say with confidence today is: This is the season I’m in.

I’m thankful for this new season, and right now I’m just doing what I can with what I have. We’ll just have to see what happens next!

Wrapping Up

Throughout this experience of changing jobs (read: careers), I’m realizing that at some point, we just have to be brave enough to take a leap of faith. If we want to live a full and intentional life, we eventually have to choose to jump into the great thing and out of the good thing, even if we’re scared and uncomfortable.

Living on the other side of scary choices and our comfort zone is usually where the greatness lies.

I’m hoping that’s how my story goes and I’m praying that’s how your story goes, too. Choosing to let go of something good to chase something great is NEVER easy, but it’s 1000% worth it.