This is the second post in the Decompression series - it's just me taking the time to digest and process all the changes of the last trimester in 2009. Yep, life just went all crazy and I did not have time to really think about it. But I am doing it now.

So on November 11th I resigned my job. After about 10 months of over thinking, over analysing, weighing the pros and cons, and basically frying my brain (and the boy's!) with the weight of it all.

I had been thinking about it for months and months - I wanted to go back to working for myself. The most logical step was freelancer translation, which I did in the past. I have a degree in translation and 12 years of experience in it, and I LOVE translating. I really do.

So around May I contacted some clients and started translating part-time. Between May and November I pretty much worked every single evening and weekend, non-stop - on top of the day job. And on top of teaching dance classes 3 nights a week. So most days I would wake up at around 6h30 AM and I would not finish work until at least 11 PM.

This added to the fact that work was just terrible make it all twice as hard as it already was.

I was constantly tired; I was not eating well; I was irritable and distant and stressed. I could NOT keep going for much longer.

I needed to make a decision.

So I spoke to an amazing group of people, part of a membership forum that is just mind-blowingly helpful, and they helped with coming up with some pointers that would give me the confidence to do it. I spoke to close friends, and I spoke to my husband about it, and I called my parents and spoke about it a bit more.

Until I got sick and tired of speaking about it. I could not even hear myself talk about it anymore, I just couldn't. I had to take the plunge or I would lose my mind. Also, I had changed jobs internally and I am a big believer in quitting while you're winning. Things were much better in work, so it felt like the perfect time to leave.

The day I resigned I felt so light I thought I would float home. It was like the weight of the world had just been taken off my shoulders. I could not stop smiling.

I am still smiling now. The translation work is going quite well, and I am currently working on figuring out exactly what it is that I am going to do, putting the website together and all that. It's exciting, I am motivated and I am happy.

There is one big lesson learnt here, and it's that I write the story of my life. I can hold on to crutches and excuses OR I can do what I want to and what I am good at, and own my life again.