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I know that my blog is not a place where I talk about my job or career ambitions, but I felt the need to share this today. I hope that it can resonate with a few of you. For me, healthy living is not just about eating right and exercising, it encompasses so many things. I am a firm believer that being your healthiest self requires a sense of fulfillment. Fulfilment with your relationships, your job and especially yourself.

For the last year or so I haven’t felt fulfilled. I have an amazing life in front of me but I just wasn’t making the most of it. Most of this stems from my lack of contentment with my job (I do brain imaging research on babies born preterm and sick) but slowly these feelings started to creep into other areas of my life. I spent far too much time complaining and not enough time taking action. There are some people in life who have it all figured out. They’ve known from birth what they wanted to do with their life, got into a good college, continued on their professional path and life plays out as they expect it to. I am not one of those people.

Unless being a professional figure skater counts as a career ambition I really had no clear life aspirations growing up. Like most people, I knew I wanted to be successful, but in what domain I really had no clue. In university I switched my major 3 times before finally settling on psychology. I really did love studying psych. I find people fascinating so learning why people act like they do was really interesting to me.

work copyTo continue in the realm of psych you have one of two options, more school or research. I was looking to try something new so I opted for the latter. First in New York and then in Toronto. In my brief stint of funemployment between NYC and Toronto I knew that going onto another job in research wasn’t the right move for me, but I am a practical person and employment meant more to me than passion. I discovered quite quickly in my current job that passion is necessary to not getting burnt out. I was lacking that key element and my motivation waned.

Despite my lack of enthusiasm for research, I have been fortunate to have incredible bosses in both of my jobs. They epitomize intelligence and work ethic and the passion I see in them is something I would like for myself. I’m just in the wrong field. Coming to that realization was easy, but making the change was incredibly difficult.

Quitting has a bad reputation. It’s viewed as giving up or throwing in the towel, but I really don’t see it that way. Sometimes you have to let go of things that aren’t good for you. This year I had to quit running, and you know what? Life went on. If anything I’ve grown from the experience. And that’s how I’m choosing to view quitting my job, as an experience from which I can grow. I see it as an opportunity to try new things, step out of my comfort zone and become a better version of myself.

So what’s next? A few things. First, I will be dedicating more time to Kewaza. I could not be more thrilled with this opportunity and am excited to be a part of a growing company led by an inspiring young entrepreneur. I also will be trying my hand at some catering. Clearly I love to cook and bake and nothing makes me happier than having people share in this goodness.

kewaza1I also want to expand my knowledge of nutrition and have toyed with the idea of taking classes. I’m waiting to see how much free time I have in the New Year before I commit to anything. I have a habit of overburdening myself and I’m trying to avoid this in 2014.

And then there’s the blog. I’m not going to pretend like I don’t have aspirations for it. I love this little space of mine and I love being a part of the blogging world. I do not anticipate blogging ever becoming a full-time gig, but food props can get expensive so the pocket change I make from ads helps to pay for those. I do, however see it as a platform to many different opportunities that will hopefully present themselves along my journey. I do NOT blog for the money. Blogging is my release, it’s what I look forward to at the end of the day and has connected me to unbelievably inspiring and talented friends around the world. I could not be more grateful to every single one of you who shows up here everyday.

It makes me nervous that I am giving up a formal title for an unknown one. I’m no longer a research assistant and instead am becoming a trick of many trades. I’ve made peace with the fact that I don’t need to have it all figured out. I probably never will, but I need to try out many different things to figure out what fuels my fire. Because if not now, when?

If-not-now-when

Meet the Maven

Hi! I'm Davida and welcome to my corner of the internet. I'm a wellness blogger, yoga teacher, certified herbalist, and green beauty lover.

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145 Comments

  1. Congrats to you for following your dreams and doing what you truly like. You’re so brave!
    I wish you the best working with Kewaza and catering, that sounds amazing! And I agree with you on the blogging thing too 😉

    1. Thanks Consuelo! I love your blog and even if it were to become your business I’d still love it!

  2. I am so so proud of Davida! I am so excited for you and all to opportunities that are out there waiting for you!

    We MUST get together soon! Email me when life calms down a little for you 🙂

    1. Thanks Gabby! Can’t wait to hear about your plan! In the new year I’ll message ya and we should definitely get together 🙂

  3. A girl after my own heart! I’m so excited for you, and proud of you for taking the leap into the unknown because as scary as it is, it will ultimately lead you to living your life to the fullest and living out your dreams. 🙂 I can’t wait to hear every step of your journey!

  4. I’m so excited for you, Davida!!! Don’t feel bad about “quitting.” I’ve changed my career path more times than I care to admit, gone to two diff grad schools and am now doing something completely different. I still don’t love it, but i do enjoy coming to work. I wish more than anything that I had had the guys to really pursue my passion. If it were up to me I’d do something culinary or art-related. So for now, I’m going to live vicariously through you 🙂 Good luck…I just have this feeling you’re going to become something great!

    1. Aw Amy you are too sweet! And think you need to pursue your passion too! We can both take crazy leaps of faith together 🙂

  5. Congratulations Davida, it takes courage and inner honesty to make a decision to change things when you are not satisfied. If not now, when is so powerful. We cannot wait in life, because we don’t know what the future has in store for us. We only have control over the decisions that we make and the actions that we take. Best of luck in your new journey. I hope it is a fulfilling one for you.

    1. Thanks ladies! You are so right that we only have power over the choices we make. I got tired of waiting and it was time I start taking action!

  6. Oh Davida, I loved this post so very much. I can relate, and understand what you’re going through. I think that, sometimes we get stuck because we feel immense pressure to mentally figure it ALL out NOW. But life doesn’t work that way… at least not for most people. I think it’s great that you’re going to be dedicating some time to other side projects. We’ll always figure out what we’re ‘supposed’ to be doing by trying many different things and knowing what we DON’T want.

    Is Kewaza going to come hang out in Alberta anytime soon?!

    1. Working on it! You know you’ll be the first blogger to get a free sample 😉

      I feel like my first year after grad I was perpetually anxious trying to have it all figured out. The second I relaxed was when the pieces started to fall into place and it the next move just made sense. I’m starting to realize precisely what you said, it’s about figuring out precisely what we don’t want!

  7. Follow your passions Davida! As a young career changer myself, I can totally relate to this post. Sometimes I get stressed and wrapped up in the fact that I’m 27 and in school again, but then I remind myself why I am pursuing nutrition: because I love it.

    When I graduated college (the first time) I was working the most boring desk jobs and I was miserable. This translated into being miserable in other aspects of my life and I put an end to it immediately. I knew that if I wanted to make a change, there was no point in waiting! Yes, I have had to sacrifice many years of free time, money, and overall stability in my life but I wouldn’t have it any other way. I am truly passionate about this field and it really motivates me to work towards my goals. So happy to see that you decided to make a change! If you ever have any questions, I’m here for you girl!

    1. That’s exactly how I want to feel! So inspiring to know that you can change course and put up with some struggles but still know you are doing exactly what you are supposed to be doing. I may just take you up on that offer 😉

  8. ohmygoodness! I am thrilled to read this post Davida!

    There is a reason why, as kids, we love magic and dreams. I believe that when you follow your dreams you have something worth sharing with the world. Regret is a terrible thing, and a dream is powerful enough to bring you regret if you don’t take the chance to at least follow it.

    You are such an interesting person and you show others that you have meaning, direction and purpose in life. Never give up on your dreams! X

    1. Maria, your comments always make me smile! Thank you so much for your kind words and encouragement. Trying to live with no regrets and make the most of this beautiful life I have in front of me!

  9. I’m proud of you for realizing & admitting to yourself that you were in the wrong line of work. It takes guts to admit that & that’s something that I can relate to since I’ve gone through it in the past too. I had first gone to school for graphic design & did it as a career for a few years, but ultimately, I decided it wasn’t right for me & I got burnt out. I decided to follow another passion of mine & went to school for dog grooming… did that as a career for about 7 years & then decided it wouldn’t be a life-long career for me since I had a huge, budding passion for nutrition. As I’m getting older, I knew I couldn’t do such a physical grooming job forever either since it takes a huge toll on your body & especially your wrists (good ‘ol carpal tunnel). 😉 Now that I’m well into my journey on working towards becoming a RD, I couldn’t be happier. Nutrition & helping others is my passion. I firmly believe it’s important to love what you do. I’ll be right behind you on your journey, cheering you on all the way. <3

    1. I KNOW you are definitely working towards the right dream Karey! You are going to be an amazing RD!

  10. Honestly, I can’t even make a meaningful comment on this, because I’m somewhere between nodding vigorously at every single word and on the verge of bursting into tears. I know how scary this is, and how you feel you’re going to be judged, and how you’re worried you’re just being silly and not doing the “wise” thing. I am, as usual, in awe of you!

    1. Megannnn I have no words in response because I know exactly how you feel and where you’re at. I’ll just move to Texas and we can get this journey started. How does that sound?