I went with my wife and daughter to the zoo on Sunday…
Not a particularly interesting thing to say, I’m sure most people go to the zoo on Sundays, but this is remarkable for me.
Up till the end of July this year I’ve been in the hospitality business since early 1998, with a few digressions, but that’s been my life since I left school.
Since that age I’ve worked nights, weekends, public holidays looking after hungry or coffee deprived people when my friends and family are sleeping or socialising.
As my daughter has gotten older though this ‘normal’ life of mine has become progressively less tolerable. She’s now of an age where she misses her Dad when he’s working another Sunday or public holiday. And her birthday is on a holiday.
And at the same time the company I worked for was becoming a …different… environment. As a manager I was complicit in running a company with values I didn’t align with and under stresses that were not sustainable.
So I quit.
I handed in my month’s notice, worked hard to try hand over my significant role to the people who remained and left work on the 31st of July.
I’ve gone to start a podcast editing business where I can help busy people spend more time on the things they value while getting their voices out to the world. #podcasting
And things aren’t easy. I don’t have significant needs, I don’t need a lot of dollars to earn a living and I’m slowly getting there, but while #freelance life isn’t easy, what really matters is…
I went with my wife and daughter to the zoo on Sunday…