Here’s the story of how I decided to change my life.

I live by some new words these days. “You have to do the stuff that makes you happy.” Is it cliché? Yes. Is it written at the top of many click bait articles? Also yes. Do I have another clever way to say the same thing? No.

I wish that I had this attitude all along, living by these words every day of every year. I wish that I was deep in self reflection walking through the woods one day, and decided that this would be my mantra. However, this is simply not the case. My change in attitude came in 2017 when I dealt with family illness, and the loss of my dear mother. At the age of 26 I was a little lost to say the least, but I knew our time on this planet was too short and I had to do what made me happy. My mother had immense strength, one of the traits I think she gave me. This is how I was able to make hard decisions in the two years that followed.

Turns out, 2019 became the year of bold risks, but did they ever pay off. I decided to save my money, sell my car, and leave home to backpack the world for four months. It was challenging, but the most rewarding experience I’ve had. When I returned I moved to a new city, leaving Toronto and the place I had called home for many years.

Another decision I had been struggling with, was the decision to change careers or go back to school. I was unhappy in the Account and Project Management roles I had been working in, and the reality was, I could not do it for the rest of my life. I decided I needed a new career doing work that I was proud of, with better work-life balance, and a skill that I could build upon for the rest of my life.

In my previous roles, I had always interacted with developers and found their work fascinating. I wished I could do what they did but, to be honest, I thought I would never be smart enough to do it. I loved the idea of always learning, and becoming better at something every day. I loved the creativity of being able to make something from scratch. I loved the community that surrounded tech, and that there would be lots of people to guide me. Eventually, I built up the courage to start coding for myself. Luckily there are many free tools online to start learning. I started with HTML, and found that I loved it. I was incredibly excited. I found something I love on the first try? Now I had a starting point, and this was very motivating.

After learning the basics of HTML on my own, I had spoken to my brother about my new found interest. He informed me of the tech Bootcamps that were becoming increasingly popular around the city. He put me in touch with one of his friends who had completed a Bootcamp, and gave his school rave reviews. The school, was Juno College.

I signed up at Juno for a night class after work to learn HTML and CSS. I was barely into my first few classes when I decided I would work towards applying to their Bootcamp after class ended. With my impending world wide trip coming, I wondered if my plan to go to school after I returned would work out. What if I got rejected or wasn’t smart enough? The Bootcamp had hundreds of applicants per year. What if I had to keep working the gruelling Marking job when I returned? What if I simply was not cut out for this, and I was going to have to start over finding a new career path.

I’m happy to say, I just completed my first week of Bootcamp at Juno College. My acceptance was given to me just 48 hours before my first flight.

As I said, 2019 was a year of immense risk, but did it ever pay off.