When I moved from my full-time job in Dallas to being a nanny and freelancer in Nashville, I went through a sort of identity crisis. Same thing happened when I went from those jobs in Nashville to just freelancing and working on my own (currently wages-less) writing projects in Austin.
Stepping out of that societal norm of 9-to-5 work in a corporate setting felt unusual and unsettling, like I was doing something wrong. I personally liked my new schedule more, but I was self-conscious about what others might be thinking, whether or not they thought this journalism graduate from a private Texas university was another millennial who couldn’t figure out what she wanted.
I started to base my self-views around this perceived judgement that may not have even been accurate. And even if it was, even if people did think that, it didn’t matter. (Or, at least, it shouldn’t have.) After all, I felt better with my new schedule and not having to sit at a desk all day long, and I was making a better income, enough to live off of, and save and invest. I was pursuing career goals that I actually wanted, instead of wondering how many months I could make it before quitting.
