If a picture is worth a thousand words, I would have to up the ante on this one and say it is worth much more than that. When I posted this photo on Facebook back in 2013 I posted it with the caption “Happiness is: a picture that captures your true essence”. It had 85 “likes” and about 25 comments.

I actually remember this day like it happened yesterday. It was 2011 and I had turned 40. B and I had planned a road trip up the PCH from LA to San Fransisco, and stopping along the way. A couple of weeks before the trip I came down with some stomach bug (later to find out it was not). I didn’t want to commit to spending so much time in the car so we changed our plans, 4 days in LA and three days in Vegas. I could live with that (right?)

We took this beautiful drive up the PCH to Malibu. The sun was shining, the drive was spectacular and then we got to this part of the beach. We walked down a pathway and some stairs to the bottom of this, what seemed to be secluded beach. There were a few people here and there, but otherwise it felt like we were the only ones there.

We walked for a while. We passed a couple of photo shoots which made perfect sense. It is the ideal situation for a photo shoot. There were people having picnics. There we were, walking around with our DSLR cameras taking photos. B even brought his ‘paparazzi’ lens, and used it.

We were taking photos of each other and you know what happens when someone says smile. You have that fake smile that makes people cringe. If you are a avid fan of “friends” picture Chandler posing with Monica for their engagement photos. Enough said.

After taking my picture of few times, I think B must have said something about the fake smile and it made me laugh. Then he took the photo above. I didn’t really think too much of it at the time.

I made a photobook of our travel adventures and on the last page of the book there were some candid shots of us on our own. I put this photo in the book. I hadn’t really shown it to anyone before. Every single person said that it was one of the best photos of me they had seen. It was quite surprising that something so unscripted and candid could have such a reaction.

So there is it. It has become a photo that means a lot to me. It represents a wonderful day filled with great memories. Time with a friend that you comfortable with and can be yourself around. A time that I will remember for a long time to come.

Of course I didn’t really get pushed off a cliff, but in a figurative way, I did. Last fall I finally changed jobs, actually careers. That is where the cliff comes in play. It was a HUGE departure for me to leave the world I have known for over 24 years without a parachute.

I know many people who have changed jobs, careers, etc many times in their professional life. The online statistics about new graduates is that they will change careers 5 -7 times. That for someone who is 42, you may have already had 10 jobs? Say what?? I am 43 and I have basically had one job for 25 years (with a few different companies).

That was not me. I am a creature of comfort. I stayed in my past life for many reasons. There were many times, when I should have made changes, but never did. What I have come to realize is that when you are in your own vortex of life, you can’t always see the signs as you are swirling through the motions. Sometimes you actually do, but choose to ignore them. Now that I have been away from that life for almost three months I have learned a lot about myself and the world I was once a part of.

Quality of my life

I worked a lot. I worked weekends, nights, days off, statutory holidays, brought work home with me. All of it. Now granted, I was working on commission and that is the driven lifestyle that you develop over years and years of working on commission. There were times when I felt like my quality of life wasn’t what is should or could be.

In my new world, which by the way is still travel related, it couldn’t be farther from the life I was living. I work like a ‘normal’ person. Sometimes is still hard to get used to the fact that I can make plans on the weekends, I get weekends off. I get holidays off. Very funny story, in early December I was looking at the way Christmas fell and that I would have four days off in a row. Four full days off. I haven’t had four days off in a row over holiday time in more than 15 years.

Don’t get me wrong, I still work through my lunch. That seems to be a constant in my life. In the two branch offices that I worked in, there wasn’t a lunch room. Every day I ate at my desk. When I worked at the call centre there was a lunch room, so it was a great way to have a break and step away (which you needed to for your sanity). Working from home, well…we don’t need to go there….If you have ever worked from home, you will know what I mean.

Loss of friendship

Through this change I have not only left that work culture behind, but some friends along with it. As hard is that has been, it is probably a necessary part of change. Something I decided I needed to do was to remove some people from my friend list on Facebook. I was going through my own changes in my own time, and needed to separate past work life with new work life. A couple of friends couldn’t understand the need for personal space and took it very personally.

I really didn’t understand why they were mad, hurt, whatever with me for my need for some personal space as I made my life decisions. Another friend pointed out something that I think is true. These people are still on top of the cliff and haven’t jumped off or been pushed off (for whatever the reasons). It is more about “them” and not really about me.

Some of my past work relationships have gotten stronger since I moved on. Once we set boundaries about not really talking about work, we can get to know each other on different levels that have nothing to do with work. Those relationships will carry on. The others ones won’t, and maybe in the long run, weren’t really going to anyway. It has been hard to accept, but as I said earlier, the farther away I am from it, the more I seem to understand it.

Feeling appreciated

The best part of my new job is that I get to use everything I have learned for the past 25 years of work life and put it into action. I know that may seem melodramatic, but it really isn’t. I am part of a lot of different areas of my new job and my new role changes day to day. It is a new and growing company and I am part of the growth, and I love it. I am asked my opinion and my thoughts are actually heard. It is so refreshing to be part of something like this. I really like the role that I have stepped into.

The moral of my story I suppose is once I got up and dusted myself off from falling off the cliff, is the realization that you do, in fact, stand up.  You stand up and start climbing the next one. Life is one day at a time, and every day the message is to learn something new. I am very excited to be in this new role and learning so much after such a short period of time. It is refreshing, and inspiring to me. Inspiring me to learn more and be more.

Thank you for reading, it means a lot to me.

Live your best life,

Lisa