The day I made the decision to quit my job I felt really strong, liberated, and most of all happy. The day I cleared my desk and said farewell to my colleagues, I felt completely ready to discover a new life. How much is still possible, I thought. The day after I felt nothing but PANIC, SHEER PANIC. I told myself that I had made the right decision. That I had everything I needed: an oak tree to sleep in and enough acorns to get me through the winter. That I needed to rest beneath the leaves before starting a new job. None of these things made me feel better. I realised that I had spent most of my life trying to avoid exactly this situation. And that you can’t avoid it. There’s no plan safe enough, no job secure enough. Unfortunately, that didn’t make me feel any better either. The only thing that would? A new job title to stick on my forehead to show how successful I am. But I’ve been there, done that. So there is only one solution: stop trying to escape it and face up to your panic, paper bag in hand.
