emabromleyWhy am I leaving?
Why am I leaving work? I really enjoy my job and I am very good at it. So why am I taking this step into the unknown, to travel abroad for the next year, with no guaranteed job or future income or even an idea of what I will do when I return from my trip?
But then I wonder, why do we do anything? It’s very easy to come up with a multitude of justifications for our actions. Yet, after years of observing the process, I suspect that I am doing it because it is simply the next step on my path.
But why not stay at home and pursue my creative ambitions in the UK? That was originally my plan. And yet I have tried this over many years, and it hasn’t actually worked. My numerous creative projects have remained unfinished because there is always stuff that needs doing: food that needs cooking, my house and garden and clothes and dishes, which all need cleaning. And added to that my job at the University which has always needed prioritising.
I know there is an element of creative anxiety at play here. I sense that my fears have been getting in the way. Is that why I have discarded my financial safety net and am jumping regardless? To force myself to face my fears and finally live my dreams?
I am leaving the UK because I figure that if I remove all the chores of daily life and the distractions of home, I will have more time to focus on what I love – on drawing and writing and finishing my projects. I plan to journey to places where I will be inspired by the culture, where I can eat delicious food, and bask in the warmth and light – escaping the grey and cold of the oncoming UK winter. Financially, I am hoping (after I have left Europe) that I am able to live more cheaply than I can in the UK. That is, until my funds run out. But by then I hope to have discovered what I actually want to do with this next stage of my life. Is it as an artist, an educator, an author, a combination of all three, or something else entirely? It’s going to be so much fun finding out!
