My Leap Year

Today is the last day of my job.

It was an amazing gig at independent global branding consultancy Monaco Lange with some of the sweetest, smartest colleagues and friends. They were more appreciative and thoughtful than any I’ve known.  I mean, yesterday they gave me the sweetest sendoff. They served beautiful cupcakes with little flags of my book cover one side and “Good luck Kara! We’ll miss you” on the other.

As hard as it is to leave a paycheck and these people I adore, I must go.

This is my leap year, the year that I will become an author full-time. This is something I’ve dreamt about for years so it’s about time I go on and do it.

For years, I’ve played this dual role, with a job and an absolute obsession – writing. I squeezed writing into every possible nook and cranny of my life. I suppose, that’s what got me in a position to take this leap but it wasn’t without setbacks, more rejections than I care to mention but the joy of doing it anyway.

I found myself spread too thin and in late September and October was in full-on burnout mode. I took a weekend off from life and headed to Kripalu, a yoga retreat in the Berkshires, with Geneen Roth (who is amazing by the way). It became clear, this is the path I must take. Though, I think I’ve known that all along.

I’ll spend 2015 focusing on the release of my book, Gorge. It comes out in April via Seal Press. There’s a lot to do from finalizing my 30-city tour, creating inspiring content to promote the book and hopefully finishing a full first draft of my next book.

As excited as I am, I can’t help feeling a little nervous. I’ve updated my LinkedIn profile. Later today, I will turn in my keys and work computer. I will officially make the big leap.

Actually, I’ve had lots of jitters lately, about whether I’ve made a mistake, whether I’ll fall flat on my face, so when I was at a gathering on Sunday, I said to a friend, “The worst thing that could happen is that I don’t sell any copies and I have to find another job. It may not be as great as the one I had but that’s not so bad. Right?”

She replied, “Actually the worst thing that could happen is to have not done it at all.” 

She was right.