A few years ago I started a blog, well actually it’s more like every few years that I start a blog. However, this one was meant to chronicle my post-grad life. It was titled something along the lines of “Embarking on the journey to professionalism while in my sweats.” Something like that. Hopefully, not as long. Like all my other blogs, I kept at it for a few months and then forgot all about it.

Anyway, the reason I bring it up is because here I am yet once again, embarking on my journey to professionalism all the while still in my sweatpants.

Let me elaborate.

Last year I decided to quit my full-time job. Did I have a back-up? Nope. Did I have a plan? Not really. But I knew I needed a change. I figured I could freelance for awhile until I decided if I wanted to go back to school or at least until I found another job. It was in that voluntary disarray that I realized that at the end of the day it wasn’t about me being unhappy in my workplace. It was about me unhappy because of the “workplace.” I couldn’t do it. No amount of money was going to change my mind. I looked at my future and it didn’t matter what the environment looked like, I could not force myself to show up a place day after day, doing the same thing, for the rest of my life. I just couldn’t.

Here I am 8 months later and in business for myself. It was a slow realization that this was what was best for me and the road definitely hasn’t been easy, but I feel at ease. In the beginning it wasn’t about me starting a business, it was about me just working for myself. And yet, it still is. I want to be able to make decisions without ignoring my integrity, I want to be able to have the liberty of working from anywhere I want to without the limits of vacation hour accruals.

I am my own boss and I am the only one responsible for my success or my demise.

It hasn’t been easy, but it shouldn’t be. These couple of months have served as a true test of my character. Do I really want to do this? Am I really cut out for this?

So while I sit here from my home office thinking about the weeks ahead, I realize that I’m the same girl I was years ago. Hungry for expansion, driven for success, and passionate about making it work.

And yes, I still am in my sweatpants.