I haven’t worn pants in exactly two months. I suppose
there are more appropriate ways to announce I am now working at a startup but
a bit of embellishment about my pure joy of not having worn a pair of dress
slacks for months was more likely to grab your attention.
When I was contemplating the jump to a startup a good
friend urged me to take some time to think about it. “Why don’t you wait a few
years, build up your savings a bit more, and then think if something like this
makes sense?” He had a fair point. I worked with great people and was working a job that I liked. But I could feel the passion that I used to use as a beacon for life choices slowly fading away. If I waited until I was in my thirties,
got accustomed to a nice salary and the perks that accompany it, who’s to say
I’d still have the courage to make that jump? I believe we’re equally
accountable to both heart and mind, and the heart was demanding I fight for
it’s very survival.
Transitioning to a startup can be intimidating. We all
have those days where we feel unfulfilled, but very rarely do we ask what we
would be willing to give up in search of meaning? It’s one thing to declare
you’ll follow your dreams, it is quite another thing to do just that when you
realize that dreams, the really good ones at least, often come with great risk,
cost, and sacrifice. This can be manifested in simple ways like letting go of your
comfortable salary or company sponsored health insurance for example. Or it can
be as vexing as a creeping feeling you’re not the passionate person you once
were or the capable person your new company thinks they hired. When push comes
to shove, it sure seems lot easier to never take the risk to discover if our greatest fears about who we are or who we are becoming are true or not.
My first weeks at InVenture have been exciting. And it’s not
just about reporting to work most days in jeans and flip flops. There is
something bigger going on. I’m surrounded by other people in their 20’s and
30’s who believe their work matters enough to have meaning. There are people
all around me who are as curious as they are passionate, and that informs my
work in incredible ways.
I don’t know what the future holds. But I do know that for
so long I felt that emptiness in my soul that one feels when they aren’t
pursuing the work they are called to do. We can ignore the longing by trying to
fill the emptiness with meaningless distractions. Or, on trembling knees, we
can face our greatest hopes and fears, often woven into one package.
Work here is anything but easy, but that hollow spot in my
soul is being filled by a passion almost lost, compassion refueled, and
curiosity pushing me to the limits of my own understanding. This is not to say
I have attained the meaning I so desperately crave, but damned if I am not pursuing
it... in my jeans and flip flops!
