Two Weeks Notice...

I had gained an immense amount of knowledge and experience working at a national public accounting firm for over 2.5 years. Everyday there was something new to learn, whether it be an accounting principle, etiquette in a professional setting with clients, and even just basic communication within the company. I planned to continue this career route - I got my CPA license, I wanted to be promoted to a senior associate, I wanted my company 401k match to vest, I wanted to do everything practical to further my career, become successful, buy a home, live comfortably.

but something clicked in me over the past couple of months. I just had an itch to move somewhere out of Los Angeles. I've lived in this city for the past 6 years, going to college here and starting my career here. I'd never lived anywhere outside of Southern California, never studied abroad, and family was just a one hour drive south. I wanted out. I felt I needed to experience things outside of my own comfort zone, live on my own somewhere new. Friends moved to New York and San Francisco and that seemed to push me closer to that decision. I got a healthy dose of travel in 2010. I went to NY, Denver, SF, Hawaii, Phoenix, Miami, and Las Vegas for work and play and that also pushed me closer to that decision.

Other factors also helped in this decision I decided to make. The audit I was currently on was a 2.5 month engagement that began in early January and still continues to this day. I felt I had learned as much from the audit and it was starting to become mundane. Less was being learned each day and tasks became repetitive. I learned to supervise the engagement, but I felt overstressed over the time commitments, working anywhere from 10-14 hours Monday through Friday and sometimes the weekends as well. I was not happy. Was this what I envisioned I would be doing for the rest of my life? At the same time, my house mate was looking for another job and we talked about what would happen in the future. If she got the job, she would probably move out to find a place closer to work. Our lease was up since August 2010 and we'd been renting month-to-month since then, so cancelling our lease was no problem. 

The time seemed right. It felt like the world was telling me to do this. Everything came together naturally. But it was also probably one of the hardest things I had to do. Letting go of stability to reach into the unknown was a risk I wasn't used to taking. I've spent my whole life following a rigid path to success, making my parents happy and taking a conservative approach to security. I didn't like letting people down, and I thought that if I were to leave, I'd let my colleagues down as well as my parents. But if I didn't do this now, I would be letting myself down, and I don't know if I would ever have such a clear opportunity to do it. I have no debts - no car or mortgage payments, no student loans, no kids. I'm single and I'll always have my family back home when I come back. I've always been financially responsible and had saved up a decent amount of money in hopes of putting a down payment on a house somewhere. The time was now.

so I decided to give my two weeks notice on Friday, March 4, and start this journey of a lifetime.