Chris Duffy

Like that's actually not forbidden.

And then as soon as I did, I remember so clearly, like truly the week after I left the job where I was like, I'm no longer employed by the school anymore.

I no longer felt in any way like I had jumped off a cliff.

And instead, I had this clear, like alternate metaphor that I had turned a corner where it was like, oh, I could go back.

It's like I turned and I could go back.

I just couldn't see where I was going.

And so because of that, it felt like this dramatic leap.

And I think sometimes we make a career decision that is a true like you've jumped off a cliff.

But a lot of times it's not so true.

The story we tell ourselves that like.

You could never go back to the job that you left or the field that you left.

You know, like if you are a lawyer and you've gone to law school and you have your credentials and then you quit to become a novelist, it's not like you can't get another job as a lawyer later on.

Like that's actually not forbidden.

Two very clear things.

One was I did the math and I realized that what I was currently making, teaching improv and doing a few comedy shows, if I just kept that stable and then my worst case scenario, if I kept that stable and then I worked half time as a barista, like if I just got a job at a coffee shop and I was like, that's not what I want my other half of my time to be.

But if I get half the time working at a coffee shop and then I'll still have more time to do comedy and creative stuff.

And I just keep all my creative things the way they are now.

Between those two things, I will be able to pay all of my bills.

So I just did the math and was like, OK, that's the financial goal is just to like not, you know, not go into deep debt that I can't get out of.

And the second one was I talked to the principal before I left and I said, if I quit and try and pursue this, which they were very supportive of, like the other teachers liked coming to my shows and like they they saw potential in me, which was very encouraging.