Quitting My 9-To-5 Was The Only Way I Could Figure Out What I Wanted In Life

Picture this: You're sitting in a small, carpeted cubicle, being micro-managed and struggling to meet unattainable deadlines 40 plus hours a week.

The human interaction is gravely sparse, staff meetings are miserably awkward and the general office vibe can best be described as a scene from "The Walking Dead."

Sound familiar yet?

I dreaded going to work more than I dreaded my visits to the OBGYN.

You know that feeling you get deep down in your gut when the nurse calls out your name from across the waiting room, and you know it's time to meet your dreaded fate: a cold leather table and a shiny set of stirrups?

When a job provokes that kind of soul-sucking feeling, it's time to bounce, my friends.

It's. time. to. bounce.

Sure, most people don't work a day job that they just passionately love. I get that.

In today's world, we are constantly pressured by social expectations, and we are motivated by money. We want to be able to say, “Momma, I made it,” even if it costs us every single ounce of our sanity in the process.

I was one of those people.

I loved the thought of climbing the ladder until I reached the very top, ultimately meeting that standard of success society had drawn out for me.

And while that does sound rewarding, I eventually decided I just wanted more than that.

I wanted to evolve, challenge myself and explore life outside of that smothering, carpeted cubicle.

I knew there was more out there for me, so I decided to take the big leap and figure out how to make it work.

Here are the four things that happened to me once I quit my soul-sucking office job:

1. I learned to embrace uncertainty.

I leaped out of my corporate office job without much plan for what would happen next.

Risky? Maybe. Irresponsible? Slightly. Life-changing? I'm willing to bet my prettiest penny on that one.

I knew an opportunity would eventually pop its head up for me, and I was willing to sit back and enjoy the (sometimes crazy) ride while all of that played out.

2. I got creative.

I've always had a slightly creative side to me, but like most of us with 9-to-5 day jobs, quotas, deadlines and conference calls, they leave us absolutely no time for showing off our quirky talents.

I finally had time to craft things (which I sold on Etsy), write (which I love doing) and spend some much-needed time finishing up the house renovations on my “fixer upper.”

Do you see a common trend here? This trend leads me to my next point.

3. I found other ways to make money.

Sure, it wasn't the big, fancy paycheck I made while working for that Fortune 500 Company, but it was enough.

I'm not saying that everyone is crafty, loves to write and enjoys living their life inside a constant HGTV show in order to make an income.

I'm saying if you open your mind even the slightest bit and think outside of the box, you'll realize there are many, many ways to make it work, whether that's selling your art of working freelance.

4. I was forced to grow.

We get comfortable, and we forget the importance of challenging ourselves. We are at the prime age for growing, evolving and truly asking ourselves what we want to do for the rest of our lives.

It's OK to not know right away. It's OK to screw it all up in the process of figuring it all out.

But, it's not OK to hold yourself back from your fullest potential just because you are rushed to settle into a career for the sake of fitting in.

Walking away from my day job was exhilarating, stressful and frightening all at the same exact time.

While my college-aged self cringed at the thought of losing that nice resume booster, my young adult self was confident of the fact that it would all work out.

And it did, as it always does.