I Hope This Doesn’t Come Back to Bite Me

Posted by Jim Begley on Dec 23, 2011 in Career, Travel Writing | 0 comments

Milo of Croton

It is 2 days until Christmas 2011, a time when everyone should be joyous and focused on the holidays. Instead I have an nervousness about me , something my friends and family have had to endure for 2 weeks now.

The uneasiness is because I just quit my job to change careers. “Oh?” you say, “have you turned on the television or opened a paper recently? Do you know there is this little unemployment problem going on?”  Yes, I know and it gets crazier. I didn’t just quit a job, I closed down a technology buisiness that I started 6 years ago that was debt free and paying me a salary. Oh, and my new career, independent travel writing and photography is really more of a hobby then a job since it could be quite a while before I see a paycheck again.

So, now that the full insanity of this decision is out there, why would I walk away from something that is towards something that may someday be? Because I know who I am, I was born with the Explorer gene. When I travel I am like a child again, my eyes open wide and I drink in the life around me. My normally measured tone and analytical mind give way to a world of foreign tongues and new ways of thinking.

I used to tell my coworkers that I travelled so much because being in a foreign land helped me see my world and my work with a different perspective. With this career change I now hope that my travels help you to see your life and work with a different perspective. Maybe you will be encouraged to travel more, or travel differently. Or maybe, once in a while, for an afternoon or en evening I can take you away with my writing to a place where everything is new. A trip with no checked luggage or middle seats, only words, photos and dreams.