I Did It!

I took a leap of faith in 2015 around the time I turned 40.  Life was going along well.  I had a part-time job, a loving husband (and still do!), three great kiddos (and still do!), and my parents babysat my kids the eight hours I worked (and still do when I need them!). 

Eight hours, you say??  Yes, I only had to work two days from 9am to 1pm and got paid well.  I was an Optometrist for 13 years after having gone to undergrad school for four years and then to Optometry school for an additional four years. 

I started out working 20 hours a week at a private practice, then went down to 12 after my daughter was born, and then went down to 8 hours once my kids started sports and I wanted to be at their games instead of at work on Saturdays.  I loved the women I worked with and my bosses were great. 

Then last year, after a lot of soul searching, I decided I would walk away from my job and be a full-time stay at home mom.  I am very blessed to have a supportive husband who has a secure job that I was able to make the decision to leave my career.  Luckily, we didn’t need my income to pay bills but it was very nice to have!

Why leave a super part-time job that pays well?  It was a hard decision to explain to people.  For the people that know me well, it was probably not that big of a shock. 

I am one of those people that needs to be creative and have a passion for what I do.  After 13 years I was losing passion for my job, and when you’re dealing with people’s sight, I didn’t feel comfortable treating patients when I would rather be at home doing something creative. 

I read a lot of books about encore careers and starting over, which was a bit overwhelming but I felt like it was speaking to me.  We only have one life, so why waste it on something you don’t LOVE to do??? 

Again, I know I am very fortunate in that my income loss was not a big blow to my family.  We did have to make some changes, but we knew I would go back to work in a few years after I found my passion!

After reading more books and taking numerous online tests about what I should do with my life (at 40!), I wasn’t any closer to figuring it out.  Let me also tell you, I’m the type of person that needs to be busy and I always have a project going. 

I also like to decide things quickly and go.  I’m a big-time planner that starts my projects months in advance because I know new ones will come along and also because I’m so excited to see how my visions turn out!

During all this time, the one thing that stayed constant is my love for crafting, planning parties/events, volunteering at my kid’s school, learning how to do lots of DIY home improvement projects on a budget and pushing myself to learn new things.  So, I asked myself, why not try to make a job out of that? 

I thought about it and prayed about it and then one day I just decided to go for it and take another leap of faith!  So, this is one avenue of my new journey along with making homemade crafts to sell. 

Thanks for taking this journey with me and I’ll let you know how it goes after a few years!!