Exit

This piece was created during a time when I was, to put it bluntly, completely burnt out and on the edge. My job had drained me to the core. We’d gone through our second round of mass layoffs, and on top of it all, there was no future in that place whatsoever.

My body literally pulled the emergency brake on me—I was down for two weeks, hit by everything from exhaustion and dizziness to a full-blown cold. At the time, I knew something was wrong, but it didn’t occur to me that my job was making me sick until much later. What I didn’t realize back then was that this breakdown would be the starting point for everything you’re seeing and reading right now. And I have my wife to thank for that, in part. She looked at me one day and said, “We’ve been together for a few years now, and there’s one thing I’ve noticed. No matter how bad things get, no matter how depressed you feel, there’s always one thing you come back to, and you never hate it. Your art.”

To be honest, I had been struggling for years, bouncing from one job to the next, trying to find something I didn’t despise—something I could at least tolerate. And that was the moment when I realized the only thing that truly makes me happy (besides my wife, of course) is my art.

It was then that I understood how important all of this is to me, and how crucial that breakdown was—it was my way out of the vicious cycle I had been stuck in for years. Looking back, that moment wasn’t just a breakdown, it was an “exit” sign, showing me the way forward.

Sure, it might take a while before success finds me and I can live off of this, but at least now I know where my heart lies. And where your heart beats, that’s always the right path.

What I’m really trying to say is: it’s important to listen to your body and your intuition. Sometimes they see things you don’t, and they’re trying to tell you something.