Pakistan Army Soldiers having Fun

Screw You, I Quit!
by Joshua Millburn
Pay close attention, this story might be about you.
Once upon a time, there was a guy. This guy had it made. He was in his late
twenties, he had a six-figure corporate job, he was well respected by his peers and
subordinates and bosses at work, and he seemed passionate and friendly and outgoing
and successful. He was living the corporate dream.
People saw his nice house with too many bedrooms, his too-fancy car, his
ridiculous gadgets, and his life of opulence and thought, I want to be like that guy. They
saw all of those things—all of that superfluous stuff—and they just knew he was
successful.
But he wasn’t successful at all. Maybe he was ostensibly successful—displaying
his status symbols as if they were trophies—but he wasn’t actually successful. The people
who envied his life didn’t see the other side, they didn’t see the man behind the curtain.
He did a good job of masking his fear, his debt, his anxiety, his stress, his loneliness, his
guilt, his depression. He displayed an impressive facade, revealing only what he thought
the world wanted him to reveal.
Worst of all, he wasn’t happy with his life.
I know this story because I am that guy. Or at least I was that guy: Joshua Fields
Millburn, the unhappy young executive. And this is my story about why I quit my job to
pursue my passions and live a meaningful life, and I’m going to show you how and why
you should pursue your passions too, why you must live a meaningful life if you want to
be happy.
This journey started because I was tired of not being happy, plain and simple.
Yes, I had a “great” job by cultural standards. But working 70 to 80 hours per week for a
corporation was not cutting it for me. Not that working for a company is inherently bad
or evil or wrong, it’s not. In fact, I had a lot of mixed emotions about leaving my job. I
love a lot of the people there, and there were a ton of things I enjoyed about the job
itself: I enjoyed leading people, I enjoyed developing people and helping them see their
true potential, and I got used to the comforts the big salary afforded me.
But I was empty inside. I was not living a meaningful life, I was not fulfilled or
satisfied, and I certainly was not free. That’s because I wasn’t doing what I really wanted
to do. I wasn’t pursuing my passions. I wasn’t living my mission.
Instead, I made six figures per year but got further into debt every time I got a
pay raise. I was trying to buy happiness. I was trying to fill the void with things,
attempting to give meaning to that which has no meaning.
And over the course of a year—in late 2009 and early 2010—my life came
crashing down in front of me. It was as if I had no power over my life as it collapsed
before my eyes. In 2009 my mother fell victim to cancer and I watched her die slowly
and painfully as she battled it. Shortly thereafter, my marriage crumbled and it was
completely my fault. During that time, my job became mundane and what I once
thought was my mission in life became void of any meaning. And to top it off, my fiction
writing—my true passion—halted. It was around that time I stopped caring about life,
and my mental and physical health deteriorated. I was flying in ever-diminishing circles.
It’s sad that it took that series of life-altering events to wake me up, to make me
take massive action to become more free, to find meaning in my life.
In 2010 I stumbled across the concepts of minimalism and simplicity and
unstoppable passion. More specifically, I stumbled across a handful of blogs that opened
a door in my mind and changed my life and led me to today (N.B. prior to discovering
these blogs, I never even read blogs and thought they were generally a waste of time). I
first discovered Everett Bogue’s, Colin Wright’s, Joshua Becker’s, and Leo Babauta’s
blogs via Twitter; I was intrigued by their stories, which lead me to other interesting
sites.
All of these people had different stories and different perspectives on living a
more meaningful life, and yet their fundamental message was the same: the stuff in your
life is not going to make you happy, and there is another way to live your life, a way in
which you can grow as a person and contribute to others in a meaningful way, a way in
which you can be happy and fulfilled and passionate and free.
The life that these people were living was the life that I wanted to live—not that I
wanted their lives, but I wanted the freedom that their lifestyles afforded them—so I
adopted the principals of minimalism and applied them to my life. I got rid of
unnecessary things so I could focus on what’s important in my life, so I could focus on
relationships and pursuing my passions and living a meaningful life, so I could focus on
growth and contribution.
Liberating Yet Terrifying
Once you do this—once you discover your passion and mission—it’s eye opening. It’s
liberating, but it’s also terrifying.
It’s liberating because everything changes for you. You feel new and excited and
free. Now you have something to focus on, and your life has a purpose, it has a meaning.
It’s terrifying because you realize that the life you’ve been living has been total bullshit,
you realize that you must change, because if you don’t change then you’re essentially
dead.
This might sound like hyperbole or exaggeration, but I assure you it’s not. It’s the
cold truth. You are either living a meaningful life or you are dead inside.
Burn The Boat
You’ve most likely heard that little old parable before, the one in which the warriors
arrive on the island and burn their boats so they are forced to stay and fight because
they have no other alternative. They must fight and win or die trying. There’s no turning
back.
On February 28, 2011, I burned my boat. That was my last day at my big
corporate job. March 1, 2011, was my first day of freedom, the first day of my real life,
my new life. This year I will focus on my passion (primarily writing) and on my mission
(growth and contribution). I will publish my first novel As a Decade Fades towards the
end of the year (my passion). I will publish content on our site that helps people change
their lives (my passion and mission). I will spend a lot more time contributing to others
through charity and mentoring (my mission). And I will help you if you need my help.
Burning your boat is also terrifying. You begin to think things like, What am I
going to do for money? and What if I end up broke, will I be homeless? and What if I’m
not successful at pursuing my passions? and What if I’m making a terrible mistake?
You will probably think all of these things—and many other things—at some
point in time. I did. It’s natural. We’ve been conditioned to think this way. When you are
going against the status quo, there is going to be some push back. Your friends might
think you’re insane, your co-workers won’t understand, your family might think you’re
lazy. So what! Those things don’t mean anything if you’re not pursuing your passions, if
you’re not happy.
Burning your boat means that you must be successful: you are leaving yourself no
options other than success. Nothing to fall back on, no safety net. You will find a way to
succeed.
This doesn’t mean that you can live the same lifestyle that you lived before
though. The house with the two extra guest bedrooms isn’t going to cut it. The $600 car
payment isn’t going to cut it. Continuously buying stuff isn’t going to cut it. You will
have to drastically adjust your lifestyle if you want to pursue your passions.
But I don’t have enough money to change my life, you might say. Really? Everett
Bogue did it with just $3,000. He also wrote the book (literally) on how to make money
with a “Minimalist Business” while pursuing your passions.
But I have a family and kids to take care of, you might say. Well, Leo Babauta
has a wife and six kids and he changed his life, and Joshua Becker has a wife and two
children, but he is living his mission and is living a minimalist lifestyle.
No matter what excuse you have, there is a way around it. You know it’s true.
Screw You, I Quit!
The “screw you” here is a bit more subtle than it sounds. I didn’t barrel into by boss’s
office and yell “screw you, I quit!” In fact, I had no desire to do so. My former boss is an
amazing guy, one who taught me a lot about life.
So, my “screw you” is not to my former job.
Instead, my “screw you” here is to my old lifestyle, to my old life, to a life without
meaning. I’m not just quitting a job—the job is not the point here—I’m quitting the life
that I lived, and I’m committed to living a meaningful life, one in which I do what I love.
And you can do it too.
I didn’t quit with some big savings account to live off of for a while, but I have
enough money to live off of for a few months as a safety net, because I will live a simple
life with few expenses. And you can do the same thing. You can refuse to be a slave to
your current circumstances and to live a more meaningful life. You can pursue you
passions.
That’s what I’m doing starting today. I refuse to be a slave to culture expectations,
ensnared by the trappings of money and power and status and perceived success. So, to
my old life, I bid you farewell. Oh, and screw you, I quit!