Life is too short.
I’ve been in London for a good few years now, it must be coming up to five later this year. I can still remember the day I waved goodbye to my life in the North to join the capital, the big smoke, the rat race; it was a life changing decision, one that I don’t regret for a second.
I’m from a small village in the North East of England. There’s a pub, an Italian and a few shops selling home crafts. You know the ones, they’re filled with the shabby-chic side tables and dressers. After leaving Uni and having worked —with limited success — as a freelance designer, my time to head to London had arrived. I didn’t hesitate in handing in my resignation to Primark — I forgot to mention, yes, I worked there. Retail. Fun.
Living in London for a short while I quickly got a position at a marketing and events agency (after another duration back in retail, Fortnum and Mason this time, another post for another time). The position at the agency has been great, I mean, it’s my first full-time position so have been learning a lot. But a lot in the wrong field. My role there is as a designer — sort of.
The last few months there have had me assess my current position. I am not going to be in London forever, I know that, so I should be making the most of my time here. So, rather than sticking at the same routine, I should be moving onto the next thing. This thinking has all sparked from a few recent articles that I have read. One being this one here, from the account of a dying 24-year-old. In it, a few points stood out to me:
Don’t waste your time on work that you don’t enjoy. It is obvious that you cannot succeed in something that you don’t like. Patience, passion, and dedication come easily only when you love what you do.
Fear weakens and paralyzes you. If you let it, it can grow worse and worse every day until there is nothing left of you, but a shell of yourself. Listen to your inner voice and go with it.
You can float through a life created by circumstances, missing day after day, hour after hour. Or, you can fight for what you believe in and write the great story of your life. I hope you will make the right choice.
From this and speaking to a few close friends and family I have to agree with this man, if we’re not enjoying what we’re doing, then what’s the point? Life is too short. It is tragic to think that in this man’s sudden life expectancy, he has had this realisation. I don’t want to be in that situation, where the minutes, hours, days, months and years just fly past without much gratification.
So I did what most have always secretly wanted to do, to hand in their notice and to start a new adventure. To break the chain of routine, daunting I know. This adventure? Freelance! I’m not sure how it will go, but if I don’t try I’ll never know.
It’s been a week in and the experience has been positive so far! I’ll be sure to keep this space updated with the progress.
