It has been exactly one year since I was laid off from my job in mortgage lending. It was unexpected but when I received the news, I did not experience the expected emotions of sadness, anxiety, fear, etc. Instead, I felt relieved. I never thought I would actually be HAPPY to get laid off. That feeling of relief made me acknowledge what I had known for quite some time but had not actually put words to until June 1, 2021. I was miserable at my job. Getting laid off forced me to re-evaluate my life and look at what I truly wanted and what would make me truly happy.
The timing actually couldn’t have been better as we had just sold our home in Atlanta and downsized to our cabin two weeks earlier. We no longer had the pressure of two mortgage payments and the upkeep requires for two homes. With the funds from the sale, I decided to take the summer off and figure out what my next career move would be. I realized that I did not want to work in mortgage lending any longer, but I didn’t know what I wanted to do. It took me a couple weeks to stop compulsively checking my phone for work emails and to actually relax. The next two months were spent with family and friends back in the Midwest and enjoying lake life. I figured once I had some time to decompress, then I would eventually get some sort of epiphany of what to do with my life.
After three months, I realized that I didn’t want to work as I no longer felt joy from it as I previously did. I also, thankfully, did not have to work as we realized that moving into our cabin had lowered our living costs so much and we had saved enough that my income was no longer needed. Freeing ourselves from the high-priced mortgage and inflated lifestyle that comes naturally with living in the city was the best thing we could have done. Mr. Bug and I talked it over and decided that we would rather stay in our tiny cabin in the woods and be happy rather than buying another big house which would force me to get a job and more than likely lead to my being miserable again.
Once we decided to stay in the cabin and not get another house, we took some of the money from the sale of our city house and paid off our cabin. In three short months, we went from having two mortgages to being mortgage free! We are now completely debt free with a fully funded savings account and have security knowing that our home is paid off and we don’t have to worry about our housing costs.
Another unexpected perk of my not working has been our increased flexibility with travel. In the last 12 months we were able to spend a total of four months with family back in the Midwest, take several trips with friends, spend two months in Mexico where we worked on our Spanish speaking skills, got PADI scuba certified, enjoyed the beautiful beaches, and consumed our body weight in tacos. I also now have time to give back to my community through volunteering at a local chimpanzee sanctuary which brings me so much joy.
Being laid off from work was honestly the best thing that could have happened to me. It forced me to take a hard look at our life and our finances and helped me to realize that we could make this new life of ours work. We thought we needed my income but we actually didn’t. We just needed to reassess and put our money to work on the things that truly make us happy. You would be amazed at how little you truly need to be happy. You don’t need the big fancy house and shiny new car. You can’t put a price on time. Don’t get so sucked into keeping up with the Joneses that you forget to keep up with yourself and your own happiness. If you aren’t happy with where you are right now, take a breath and do an analysis of what would make you happy and take steps to make it a reality.
Recent Comments