The experiment.
It all started in March, in a single conversation with my husband.
ME: I feel like I need to make a change in my career.
RICH: That’s ironic.
ME: No kidding. Work is good and busy and so on, but I’m losing focus. I’m spending too much time handling the demands of the business, and not enough on the parts I love.
RICH: What if you take the summer off?
ME: Sure, sounds great, but don’t you think it’s a little unrealistic?
RICH: Maybe we ditch LA. At least for a while. Move some place else. Try out a different kind of life.
ME: Interesting. What about our house? Do we rent it out?
RICH: Let’s sell it. We could move to the East Coast so you spend less time flying back and forth to meetings. How about Jacksonville? We’d be right there with your whole family.
ME: Jacksonville?? I never thought I’d move back there. But yeah, that could work. We’d get to spend time with my parents. The kids could be close to their cousins. We’d take roadtrips to Weekie-Watchie World and see gator wrestling.
RICH: You could spend more time writing. I could go back to work. Maybe we buy an old run-down house and fix it up. I’ll get a pickup truck and a handyman’s belt.
ME: No gun rack.
RICH: Fair enough.
ME: Let me just ask the obvious. We have an awesome life here. What if we hate living there? What if the kids hate it? What if we want to come back but can’t afford to buy another house? Doesn’t it make you a little nervous to walk away for an experiment?
RICH: Of course.
(Momentary pause as I realize that it’s a brilliant idea.)
ME: Okay, let’s do it.
Have you ever noticed that once you make a decision, if it’s right, everything clicks into place? Our decision was fast, but not reckless. All the signs had been pointing in this direction for months and we just needed to recognize them. Within 72 hours our house was sold. We visited Jacksonville and bought a house in a single weekend. (And yes, it was old and run-down.) Two weeks later we all flew to Jacksonville. With one-way tickets.
And so begins the most radical careering: living a life of our own design. A life based around our choices, rather than the usual answers. A life that’s crazy and unpredictable and exactly right.
I’ll be honest. I don’t know how this whole change will turn out. It’s an experiment. And experiments, by definition, have an uncertain outcome.
When you get right down to it, all of us have 2 options in our careers. Either we can embrace the fear inherent in living fully and fearlessly.
Or, we can reconcile ourselves to a life of so-called security, sheltered inside the gray fortress of an office cubicle. Personally, I can’t think of anything more terrifying.
May 23rd, 2006 at 9:38 am
That’s so cool, Sally! I hope you LOVE Jacksonville… and I’m sure that if you don’t, you’ll try something else…
You make a great point about the downside of “secure” cube dwellings… One would think that enough people have seen Office Space to know that the security & predictability of that sort of life has a huge cost.
Once again, bravo for setting a great example and pursuing a life worth living. I hope you book sells a million (and I look forward to reading the next one – whenever that one comes out…).
May 23rd, 2006 at 10:48 am
Sounds like the beginnings of another great book. Radical Living. The things you are doing now go beyond just having a fulfilling career. This goes ot having a high quality of life along along with the successful career.
Congratulations. It seems just when I need guidance in decisions in my life I read something like this. Thank you.
May 24th, 2006 at 4:08 pm
You’re turning the idea of practicing what you preach into an art form. Congratulations and good luck with everything Sally. Can’t wait to read the next book!
June 1st, 2006 at 1:53 am
I left comfort and the home of my Lady & I’s dreams for an experiment.
Wouldn’t change it for the mark o Gorbie’s head.
Never had sea gulls fly over my back yard, Never had some one ask what
Fajitas were. Never had to sob over no Dairy Queen soft serve.
But home & family is strong.
You only have the one.
June 1st, 2006 at 9:41 pm
I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately.
My theory: FedEx, nonstop flights, and Broadband.
Those are the core of what you need these days. The rest you can live with or without, according to your social, political, and cultural needs.
It’s time to toss all the Best City for ____ lists in magazines.
Figuring that part out is up to you.
June 2nd, 2006 at 7:54 am
I love your comment that “figuring that part out is up to you.” Truer words were never spoken.
The “right” choice isn’t necessarily the right choice for YOU.
As Mark Twain (a nineteenth century careerist) said, “Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.”
June 8th, 2006 at 2:26 pm
[...] I thought it might be worth a mention that from the looks of her blog, Ms. Hogshead takes her own advice. [...]
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