I didn’t have a chance to post anything yesterday because I was clearing the last of my things out of my apartment. I also stopped by the World Bank to have lunch with a few of my friends and that turned into me spending hours visiting my old colleagues. Both of these incidents gave me a chance to take a look at how far I’ve come in the past few months. Let me back up a bit…

Two days ago, I was reading the article Success At Your Own Risk: The Monkey Bar Theory on SelfMadeChick.com. In explaining the Monkey Bar theory, the author says, “In order to make big changes in life, you’ve got to let go of one monkey bar to harness the strength, fear, and resolve to jump to the next.”

That got me thinking about how many monkey bars I’d let go of on my own journey..then the next day I turned in the keys to my old apartment…and then I stopped by my old job at the World Bank…and now you’re caught up…so as I was saying…these incidents gave me a chance to look at how far I’ve come in the past few months.

It was in March that I FINALLY left my pretty comfy job at the World Bank. I say finally, because I turned in my notice in June of the prior year. They needed me to stick around for a little bit longer and my end date kept being extended. And honestly, I didn’t mind, because I wasn’t really in a huge rush to leave the stability that I had grown accustomed to. Although, I’d been tired of the 9-5 thing for a long time and knew that I wanted to pursue photography full-time, what I intended on doing was quite a leap–especially in the middle of a recession.

However, I knew the alternative of staying wasn’t an option. It literally made me sick to get up and go to work most mornings and my performance was starting to suffer. There were also times that I had so much Sevan stuff to do that I felt like I was abusing my baby by leaving to go look after someone else’s child. So, in March, the time had finally come. I was excited,rejuvenated, free…and terrified.

In the months that followed my departure, there were many twists and turns. There were some days that I felt like I would run back to the WB. There were days that I didn’t sleep. There were other days I wondered if I would be able to pay my rent or even eat. Nobody said being an entrepreneur was easy. I’m just lucky that these things happened in the first month.  I quickly learned that I needed to start keeping a schedule. I woke up early, exercised, ate breakfast, checked email, worked, slept…and I made this my routine. Of course I made time for the occasional happy hour. (I still have to network, no?) There are still challenges and there will be more on the way, but I no longer worry, I just work harder.

It’s now August and I’ve let go of another monkey bar.

I’ve finally given up the apartment that I’ve lived in for the past six years. It’s officially the start of the second part of my entrepreneurship journey. My plan is to bounce around from city to city, photograph and write about them. I’ll still cover private events and portraits. It’s just that one month I might be in DC, and the next month, I might be in Rome. It just depends on what my schedule looks like. (Thank God for Google Calendar.) So, I know some people are completely freaked out when I say I don’t plan on living anywhere, but this is the edge, and it’s where I belong.

I’m off to see if I can find a cheap flight…somewhere.

Related posts:

1. What It Takes to Be an Entrepreneur
2. Six Months Down
3. How to Balance Being an Entrepreneur with a Relationship