No job, now what?

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As soon as I decided that I really wanted to quit my job, I also decided that I didn’t want to rush into something new. What is it that I really want to do with my life? Do I want to keep living where I am right now? How do I want to make a living? In other words; “Where lies my real passion?”. In this story I’ll take you along on my journey finding my passion.

Step 1: Start a diary

By writing down all my thoughts that occur during the day I can clear my mind before going to sleep. As soon as it’s written down I don’t have to worry anymore that I have to remember it. This is usually my big problem. Since I expected to have so many ideas, it seemed the best way to overcome my issues. And I have to say, it’s worked so far. It’s nice to be able to read back and realize how far I’ve come in such a short time.

Step 2: Make a plan to make a plan

I didn’t want to sit down on my couch and then just wait for something to happen. Since I don’t have millions in my bank account I couldn’t afford it to spend ages on finding what I was looking for. At the time I quit I had about one month before I had my already planned vacation. So I gave myself this full month, not looking for jobs too much, but really dive into the “me story”. With that I also made a day schedule with diverse activities on it. This way I prevented myself from staying on one thing all day and I could keep the focus.

Step 3: Talk to friends and family

The day after I quit my job I had a friend over. I told him that I quit my job and was now on the big search of finding myself. He told me he went through such a phase too, and gave me some fantastic advice:

“Talk to friends and family about what they think is your strength.”

And so I did. I spoke to a lot of people and every time they came up with the same answer. Soon I had an idea of what I want to do in the future. Every time I asked the same question and got the same answer so I felt more confident of this choice. At first it felt like “No way I can achieve this” and by now I’m like “Yeah let’s go, I can do this!” Talking to all of these people  gave me a lot of information on the subject. Everybody knows somebody who might be able to help to get where I want to go.

Step 4: Get your plan detailed

I found out that working out of the plan is the hardest part of it all. There are so many choices I need to make. Do I want to start studying again? Are there actually any jobs available etc. etc. This part still isn’t completely finished yet. But I think my plan is taking shape. In the beginning I got the advice to make sure my plan is realistic to achieve. I’m not fully sure yet if it is though, because it’s something so new for me. By doing research on it I found out that it will be tough and I might have to think about a different way of living.

I can almost hear you think,“Well what do you want to do?”

Let me tell you. My family and friends all told me that I’m a good public speaker, making others enthusiastic with my enthusiasm in the stories or information I tell. Add to that, that I love to be outdoors including all sorts of activities coming with that. Like hiking, walking, rock climbing, cycling, boating, sailing, skiing, etc. Together (it was a joint effort) we came to the conclusion that nature guide / tour guide / tour leader would completely be my thing. I’m really thankful for all the help that I’ve gotten so far and all the help I’m still getting. And it’s really encouraging that those people seem to know me better than I do myself.