Shifting Gears

On June 30th, I closed the chapter on my W2 job. The past six weeks have been a mix of contract work, family time, and a lot of thinking. I’ll be helping my dad with some house projects until early September.

After that? It’s wide open.

I’m rebalancing my priorities. For most of my career, I’ve chased financial stability and being able to sustain our middle class lifestyle. But recently I’m feeling a major shift… I’m growing ever more interested in purpose. I keep coming back to teaching and creating—helping people learn something new, making the complicated feel doable.

A line from Atmosphere stuck with me:

“These were the moments of legacy she found most compelling: the chance to share something of the past with a person who could bring it further into the future. She knew most of the world was focused on bigger triumphs—scientific discoveries, great works of art—but a peanut butter and jelly sandwich in a strawberry milkshake seemed to Joan, at that very moment, a grand thing to carry forward.”

Legacy doesn’t have to be a moonshot. If I build something that changes one person’s life, even a little, I’ll count that as success.

So the plan is to spend the next few weeks exploring ideas, making small bets, and listening closely to what excites me. September 7th, I’ll pick a direction and start running.