Forget the Money

3 years ago I quit my job, took the summer off 'to find myself' and in process, actually ended up doing so.

One day I was finishing up a meeting for one of the clubs I am apart of when one of the other members asked me an innocent enough question 'what is your career goal, and what do you plan on doing after this'.  I gave him some lame answer about eventually looking for an 'administrative assistant/secretary' type of job but even as I was saying it, I knew it wasn't what I truly wanted to do.  That night I went home and thought long and hard about what my answer should have been instead.  If I could do any one thing, and absolutely nothing stood in my way, what would I do?  For me, the answer was crystal clear - I would be writing.

Six months before I quit my job I had decided to start a food blog as a fun way to share recipes with friends and family. What I wasn't expecting was how much joy I would get out of it.  It's enabled me to share my love for trying new things with a wide variety of different people, and also to embrace writing, and turn my hobby into an actual career.

After decided that this was my true passion, this is truly what I wanted to do I took a leap of faith.  I pitched the idea of a recipe column to my local newspaper.  What I didn't realize was that they were already following my recipe blog, and were planning on asking me to contribute a monthly column in the new year.  My very first recipe appeared in their February 2, 2012 issue, and I continue to write for them today.  It was my very first paid writing job, and gave me the confidence I need to peruse writing as an actual career.  To this day, on the first Thursday of every month it feels like Christmas morning when the paper arrives on my doorstep and I see my own words in print.  I am forever grateful, not only to the newspaper for giving me a chance, but also to the acquaintance that pushed me to think about what I truly wanted to do with my life.