It’s been a over year since I quit my full-time job.

I hated where I worked. I had just graduated from college, was unemployed for 6 months, and had finally landed a decent paying job that allowed me to pay rent and bills and student loans. But I hated it.

I went home emotionally drained every evening. I woke wanting to cry or play sick every morning. And I went into the office with knots in my stomach from the dread and anxiety of working in a high pressure, mechanical work environment for 10 hours every weekday.

So, after a year of smiling on the outside while dying on the inside, I up and left–right on the verge of a promotion. Not only did I leave the job, I left my apartment, my friends, and my city, and moved back to my hometown to pursue my dream of becoming a writer. Continue reading …

Nobody can predict the future.

This time last year, I was living with my mom, bartending half the week and spending the other half in Barnes and Noble applying to news and magazine jobs and writing for my blog just trying to make a living.

This time last year, my car had broken down, I was barely making any money, I had no idea how I was ever going to get out of Hampton and start the career I wanted.

This time last year, I could never have predicted everything that would happen in the next 365 days. I took some chances and opportunities and ended up in D.C., Las Vegas, New Orleans and now, New York City. I never knew whether each place would bring me to the people I wanted to meet or guarantee me the job I wanted but I took the chance. I stepped into the darkness and ended up in a better, brighter place. Continue reading …

Throughout life, we are bombarded by many variations of the following question: “How are you today?”…”How is life?”… “What’s been going on with you?”

We tend to respond with the usual: “Oh I’m fine”…”Things are good”…”Blessed and highly favored”

But how “fine” are we really? Continue reading …