Escaping the Rat Race, Embracing the Dream

Hello dearest readers. Now that vaccinations are here and we can see the light at the end of the long, dark tunnel, I thought it’d be a good time to write a blog.

So today’s topic is a hard one for me to write about. Not because it’s overly complex or emotionally charged, but because it’s something that each person ultimately must decide for themselves. There isn’t really a right or a wrong about it. But it’s something my friends and family ask about, and it’s something I think about a lot, especially since in a few short months I will be back in Japan, gearing up for the Japanese release of Okey-Dokey Sensei while also promoting Clocktower and writing the sequel, Antitower.

I graduated college in 2010, and have been working ever since. Three years in education, two in sales, and five in finance. The whole time I’ve been writing books, it’s been between the hours of 8:00PM and 2:00AM while getting a normal paycheck to pay the rent and get my Starbucks lattes. And in ten years of working, what have I learned?

That wearing suits sucks ass, and that I will always be unhappy working for someone else. I didn’t feel this strongly when I was teaching, although maybe if I had, I would’ve really geared up my writing sooner. But especially since getting my securities licenses and working for the literal epitome of over bloated wealth and greed in the world, I’ve come to realize that life’s too short. For the past five years, I’d wake up in the morning and check LinkedIn and Indeed, searching thousands and thousands of jobs, trying to find one that really struck me.

I never did.

This is going to be a short blog, so I’m going to end with this. If you’re reading this and have gotten yourself into a rut in your career, or maybe you’re even depressed as hell because you’ve been bouncing between place to place, chasing the all-mighty dollar, don’t feel bad. Don’t give up on your dreams, but don’t be foolish enough to think that this can go on forever. One day, someone is going to tap us on the shoulder and say it’s time to go. The party’s going to go on without you. You won’t have a chance to do those things you wanted to anymore. That ship will have sailed, and will be gone for the rest of eternity. You will never exist again, and neither will your hopes and dreams.

So if the rat race has got you feeling cornered. If that thing you’ve wanted to do is still there, like a needle in your mind, then now is the time to embrace it. Smooth seas never made good sailors. Take the risk, and press forward.

-C A