In my last (and also first) post on Extremely Unconventional, I described my overwhelming desire to get out of the 9-5 lifestyle (ie, the aptly named ‘Rat Race’), and my strong desire to get into work that both inspires me and allows me to be location independent. Also to be able to work for myself – something that is hugely important to me since I’m not the biggest fan of taking orders!

That was 3 months ago. I said at the end of my post that I wasn’t going to wait around anymore for the perfect opportunity to come and whisk me off my feet, rather, I decided to create my own. And now it’s happening! Shortly after posting my last entry, I decided to go to one of Escape the City’s (my favourite blog, http://www.escapethecity.org/) monthly networking events. I bought my ticket to the next event without even checking to see who the guest speaker was – I was simply determined to surround myself with like-minded individuals. As of last Wednesday, I have now been to the last 3 monthly networking events hosted by Escape the City. I have met a number of incredible people and I have seen 3 different people speak about the amazing and inspirational things they’ve done with their lives since quitting their ‘normal’ jobs.

I also started brainstorming and thinking about the things that are the most important to me in my life. What is something I could do for the rest of my life and still love? My answer was, of course, writing. I’ve always loved writing and I’ve always wanted to do more of it. So I started looking into freelance writing jobs. Obviously freelancing isn’t ideal – it still means I’m working for someone, but at least it gets me writing and doing what I love. It also enables me to work from anywhere in the world – LOCATION INDEPENDENCE BABY! And hey, you have to start somewhere!

Something else that is extremely important to me, and that I would like to focus on, or at least do more of, is my desire to make a difference in this world. From watching the news it is not hard to see that the world we are living in is somewhat of a mess. Wars everywhere, more natural disasters than we can cope with, poverty, corruption, violent and senseless crime rising at what seems to be an exponential rate, and disease – to name a few. I think that now more than ever it is incredibly important for people to start doing more and giving back to this world that is so clearly in need of some help! I have had a very privileged upbringing and I consider myself to be extremely lucky. And now I want to give back. There must be more to life than money – despite what Western society has rooted into our brains from a very young age. Take a step back and look around. Ask yourself what is the point of your job? Are you sitting in a room all day making money for someone you’ve likely never even met? It all seems so senseless! One thing that does seem to make sense though, and that is a logical and helpful thing for our world right now, is education. Education is something that can help everyone. It has a ripple down effect through society. I am determined to do charity work that focuses on education. Building schools, helping to educate children who wouldn’t have otherwise had such an opportunity, helping people out of poverty, teaching people how to get themselves out of poverty rather than having to depend on charity seems like the best thing that could possibly be done for our world. It also seems like a logical step towards (hopefully) one day ending racism, bigotry, and sexism in the world’s many different societies. I believe people should learn how to work together as equals regardless of their sex or race, rather than tearing each other apart and continually setting up more borders and limitations. Obviously this is a huge challenge, but I think that every little bit that I can do will help and I want to do all I can. So my first step towards helping to spread education is going to be to climb Mount Kilimanjaro this winter for an education-focused charity (TBD)! At the moment I have my heart set on a Christmas climb – reaching the summit on Christmas Day, but I’ll have to look into how realistic the climb is at that time of year. Either way though, that climb will be happening for me sometime between this fall and next spring, and I will do it for a children’s charity that focuses on education.

So, since I last posted I have accomplished the following:

1) I left my 9-5 (last Thursday, 12th May, 2011 was my last day!!!)

2) I have established a strong network of clients I intend to freelance for (writing jobs). I’m assuming I will be freelancing for at least the next year or two until I can generate enough income from my own writing. Either way though, leaving my 9-5 and establishing myself as a freelance writer has helped me to obtain my goal of location independence!!!

3) I have found a large network of like-minded people to surround myself with and bounce ideas off of.

4) I have started to set myself some long-term objectives. I think that is extremely important when working for oneself. With out a plan I think it could be very easy to get lost!

I am completely overwhelmed by how quickly everything is happening for me, but in such a positive way. I’m a true believer in the power of positive thinking and that you get back whatever kind of energy and thoughts you are putting out into the universe. Since February 21st, 2011, I have been putting out some very positive thoughts and I’ve been getting noting but positivity back. I am so thankful for all of it and I cannot wait to see where I am a year from now!

Last Wednesday was an Escape the City networking night, and my last day of work was appropriately the very next day. As I was walking back to Waterloo from the event, crossing over Waterloo Bridge, I found myself almost overcome with emotion. I stopped in the middle of the bridge and I felt like, finally, after so many years of trying to figure it all out, that my life was finally beginning to have some sort of purpose. I felt so happy and full and complete and I just took in the beautiful view from the middle of Waterloo Bridge. And then I passed this billboard…and I know that that’s a damn good sign!