I quit.

"thank you for the opportunity, training & education over the last 4 years. I have chosen to pursue another avenue..."

So went a part of my resignation letter to my team manager and Implementations manager. Yes, amid the financial crisis that surrounds us, the economic decline, the media driven panic that has been the 2009 fiscal year, I quit.

I quit my "stable" 8:30 am to 5:00 pm job. I gave up the health benefits, the 401k with 3% match (was 6% at one time), Employee stock purchase plan, Stock grants (already taken away by the company share holders, due to economic times), the Keurig K-Cup coffee machine, the 45-minute paid lunch, the 2 15 minute a day breaks, the 2 weeks paid vacation, the 5 personal days, 3 1/2 walled cube and laptop, for what?

For what? For... for... for... finding out if what I want and what I need can be the same thing. Can what I want support what I need? Can I find employed fulfillment by being fulfilled by my employment?
As the question of the chicken and the egg has plagued mankind... the question of employment fulfillment through being employed doing something fulfilling may be the chicken egg of the 30 somethings in the workplace now.

"So, WHAT are you going to do?" I was asked. "Where are you going to work?" "How are you going to buy food?"

My response, I shrug, "I am going to do something creative. I have money saved." Here is the secret to the shock factor, "I have been living simply, I have SAVED money... in preparation of something big." Something like this moment, I think to myself.

So I did, I quit. I have a preliminary plan. I have a plan - I have... a plan.

I have moved to Hawaii. I live on Maui. And I am figuring it out.