I don’t actually regret the decision to pursue a full-time writing career, because unless you take that chance in life, you will always be saddled with the menacing nag of “what if.”
That being said, we can all agree that knowledge is power, and one of the major pitfalls of not being aware of the risks that you’re piling on with weighty decisions is the falsehood of idealism, and how it initially shields our vision from the sour outcome.
Back in the summer of 2013, the plan was to finally break away from the grip of 9 to 5 jobs that hold you hostage because of the immense benefits of steady paychecks, health insurance and all the other goodies that we slave for in order to barely keep a roof over our heads.
After 7 years of being over-worked and under-paid due to the systemic gluttony of JPMorgan Private Bank (we will discuss later), there was no other choice but to find satisfaction elsewhere. The New York Public Library seemed like the perfect location to fulfill those basic needs, but as it turned out, even non-profit institutions host working environments that aren’t conducive to overall mental stability.
The moment that we hope for arrived after the mutual parting of ways at the end of the summer with the severance package that would allow complete immersion into the craft that I was no longer willing to…
