Field Program

I left my 9 to 5 to find a better connection with the world around me, to feel like I was making a difference in the playground I call the outdoors. I left for long days of putting boots to earth and sleeping under the stars. Above all else, I left to do something I knew I'd love.

But here's the thing: love doesn't always look the way I imagined. Somedays it's waking up in the cold and rain with condensation clinging to my tent, fumbling to get my boots on just right. Other days it's aching legs, blistering feet, and the realization that it's my turn to cook dinner. It's the unpredictable weather, even when the Garmin said there was no chance of rain.

And yet, there's beauty in that chaos. There is something incredibly honest about trading a comfortable 9 to 5 to the unknown, for chasing something that feels real. I traded performance reviews for sunrises, commutes for winding trails, meetings for meaningful silence.

I didn't leave to escape hard work. I left to find the kind of work that leaves me tired and fulfilled.

I left to remember what it feels like to create my own path, literally and figuratively. To find out who I am when the only expectations are my own.

So yeah, sometimes I ask myself: I left my 9 to 5 for this?

And every time, my answer is: Of course I did.