The Courage of Leaving Early

When I left my job as a high school English and speech teacher after five years in the classroom, I was barraged with questions. These were not the questions of encouraging creative thinkers, but ran more along the line of, “How can you throw away your education?” “How can you throw away your security?” “How can you give up your benefits?” (For the record: when I left teaching I closed my teacher’s retirement account and bought my first colored television. There was no money left over.) 

Quitting a job is an invitation for the dreambashers to speak up, but they’re considerably louder when what you’re leaving isn’t merely a job, but a career that you’ve invested time and money to train for. 

One of the most poignant calls I’ve ever received came from a young man who had read Making a Living Without a Job. He introduced himself by saying he was a pre-med student and was purposely flunking out of medical school. Before he went farther with his story, I said, “I think you’re courageous.” I was pretty sure nobody else had told him that. He went on to say his family had disowned him and no one was speaking to him. He said my book had been very helpful in getting him past all the anger.

“Do you know what you love?” I asked. He didn’t hesitate for a moment. “France,” he said. He sounded wistful.

“Do you speak French?” Of course, he did and said that was why he was calling me. He had an idea about starting a business to do medical translations. Did I think it was valid?

“Only if you want to be forced to take regular trips to France and make a lot of money,” I replied. 

I have no idea if he followed his dream, but I hope so. I thought of him again when I was teaching What Would an Entrepreneur Do? in Madison last month. One of the participants was a man whose name I knew because he was a subscriber to Winning Ways. I didn’t know his story, however.

During the course of the seminar, he told us that he had left his medical practice as a pediatric ophthalmologist. “It was fun at the beginning,” he explained, “but once I had mastered various procedures, it lost its charm.” 

What I found fascinating about his story was the fact that when he left medicine he was working in a large clinic. When news got out about his changing direction, he received numerous e-mails from fellow doctors who obviously envied his courage, courage which they lacked. 

The fact that we’ve invested time and money in a dream we then outgrew is not reason enough to stick with it. I know that’s not a popular notion, but it’s one that needs to be challenged. When it comes to matters of the heart, we not only need to follow the promptings of our own: we need to encourage others to do the same. There’s simply no possibility of creating a world that works for everyone if we refuse. 

                                                     °°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°

I am currently reading and loving Hugh McLeod’s cheeky Ignore Everybody: And 39 Other Keys to Creativity. Here’s a tiny sampling: “The more you practice your craft, the less you confuse worldly rewards with spiritual rewards, and vice versa. Even if your path never makes any money or furthers your career, that’s still worth a ton.”