Today I had a Skype call with one of my favorite clients. Stacie, a 1st generation American, is in her late 30’s, currently lives in Florida, and up until very recently, had a very successful and lucrative career as an engineer for a global consulting firm. Stacie had the type of career that her family had dreamed of for her, and her parents were willing to immigrate to the U.S. to ensure that she could have.
Shortly after Stacie and I completed developing her financial plan, she decided it was time to make a bold move. She resigned from her position and made the great human leap of faith into the wild unknown.
I hadn’t talked with Stacie since that big move and today was our check-in call to see how everything was going. My sense and hope was that she was doing well, but actually I was hoping better than just well, perhaps even thriving?
Life is Really Good!
And there she was on Skype, smiling from ear to ear, barely able to contain her excitement and enthusiasm and eager to share her journey of the past few months. No, she does not have a new job and no, she hasn’t even been looking. Yes, she has a little savings left but has never been happier. She had been experiencing serious health issues related to her stress filled career and during today’s call she said she has never felt healthier in her life.
Stacie has a strong spiritual practice. She told me she is finally listening to her inner voice - paying attention to her intuition instead of tuning it out. She’s also paying attention to her feelings, which she hasn’t done for a long time. She seeks guidance from above and believes strongly and deeply that she is on the right path.
Her friends think she’s crazy for leaving such a high paying job, some are even worried about her. Yet, she is undertaking the type of financial inner work, transformational work I would call it, where few dare to go. She’s reviewing every assumption she has held around money, looking at her belief system and challenging every aspect of her relationship with money.
I have no doubt she will come out on the other side a woman with authentic financial freedom.
Live Your Dream
Stacie’s not sure what she’ll be doing next, yet she has faith that whatever she does from this point forward, it will be in complete alignment with her core values as well as her dreams and aspirations. Her heart will lead for a change, not her head.
Stacie’s career was about living someone else’s dream, not her own. It’s not always easy to admit that, especially when you’ve invested a good chunk of your life into something you later discover provides you no happiness or joy. But if Stacie can make the leap of faith, so can you.
No one but yourself will give you permission to take a time out from life and reinvent yourself. That may mean slightly changing your life plans or might even involve a radical change. Saying yes to yourself is not easy, especially if you’re contemplating a major life change.
So, if not now, when? How many more chances to get off the fast track of life will you miss if you don’t start paying attention to your feelings, your inner voice and most importantly, your health and happiness?
Clients like Stacie inspire me. Over the past ten years, I’ve had the amazing opportunity to help many people utilize the power of financial planning to reinvent themselves, start new careers, or take a year off to travel.
Why I love practicing as a financial planner so very much, why I’m so grateful for the opportunity to help clients make major life decisions is because this is my calling. My passion for helping clients like Stacie alter the course of their lives is what drives my desire to want to do this work.
If nothing else, I hope Stacie’s story inspires you to ask yourself if you’re living your dream or someone else’s.
“Don’t die with your music still inside you. Listen to your intuitive inner voice and find what passion stirs your soul. Listen to that inner voice, and don’t get to the end of your life and say, ‘What if my whole life has been wrong?”
- Dr. Wayne W. Dyer
Photo credit http://www.flickr.com/photos/wespeck/