ZEITGEIST

Today I am officially no longer in full time employment and it feels incredibly exciting to say this!  I have chosen to leave my professional role and this feels a huge leap of faith into the unknown with loss of  financial security.  
But it feels so right!!

It wasn't a decision made lightly and it took a long time for me to reach this point.  But once I got here handing in my resignation was easy.  One friend called it zeitgeist, a term I had not come across before.  But when I looked it up, I saw what she meant.  ‘Zeitgeist’ is made from two German words, zeit, which means time, and geist, which means spirit.  The push and pull between doing what I love, and love what I am doing, was becoming ever stronger. 

Because, yes!  There were parts of my professional role that did love and I am sad to leave behind.  There are things that I will miss....  BUT giving this up frees me to focus on other areas of my life that have been long time put-on-hold or neglected.  The tension between the two was ever growing............

And now there is a sense of liberation:

There will be no more regularly getting up at 5am
No more long commutes - sometimes sitting for hours in traffic
No more commitment and having to fit my life around work
No more push and pull


So what will I do?! 

Well, it has been my long-term dream to spend more time being creative and sharing what I do.  Back in March I took my books to an ArtBookArt fair and I was encouraged to arrange space in a local community art-café project.  But there was no point.  I didn't have time to make the stock to fill a shelf, and like other opportunities this had to wait until my situation changed. 

And so now I have arranged space in the shop and I DO have my work displayed and on sale!  It is a pop-up project and not sustainable, but at least it gets my work shown and other opportunities might follow.
 
But even more exciting!

I WILL BE RUNNING BOOK MAKING CLASSES
AT A LOCAL CRAFT SHOP!!!!

Three classes are booked through August and I have also been asked to run Scrapbook classes, so dates for these are planned too.  I have been encouraged to take examples of my work to another shop and I have other ideas planned.  I didn't imagine that one door would close and that another would open so fast, but I am so excited!  Finally I have time to follow my dream. 

Financial security is important, we all have bills to pay.  But life is short.  I cannot be true to myself and carry on as I was.  The time feels right to take a risk and to follow my heart rather than my head.....   

ZEITGEIST