Breaking out of the 9-to-5: My story

Working a 9-to-5 isn't for everyone, and it wasn't for me. Waking up before the sun rises, spending 9 hours sitting at a desk staring at a screen and then arriving home, eating, sleeping and doing it all over again. For some people, they are at peace with this reality that 99% of people have to subscribe to. But after 5 years of working at an accountancy office, 5 days a week, 52 weeks a year, I had really come to my wits' end. Alongside a demoralising 9-to-5 job that I had no connection to, I was also sick of the city life, paying ungodly amounts of rent to have nothing left at the end of the month to spare.

But it doesn’t have to be this way.

This is my story of how I finally broke out of the depressive cycle of my 9-to-5 and turned my life into something to be excited about, filled with travelling memories and genuine happiness.

The Turn

One Friday night, after a long day typing out emails and listening to my coworkers complain, I slumped down onto the sofa and cracked open one of the 6-packs of beers I had brought on the way home. Scrolling through Netflix, I searched for my binge of the night to take my mind off my sad reality until I stumbled across a program called Emily in Paris. You probably already know it, but at the time it was new to me.

Although the TV show itself is pretty surface-level, it ignited something in me, a drive I had not felt in years, since the first year of my job. Seeing Emily move across the other side of the world and make a new life, meeting new people and experiencing a new culture, filled me with jealousy. After a while and a few more beers, this jealousy turned into curiosity. Surely this isn't just fictiona nd it is possible for a normal person like me.

At this moment, I decided that this would be my life, and I would find a way to make it a reality one way or another.

The Journey to Freedom

The next few weeks, a fire had been lit beneath me, and I gained a literal and hypothetical pep in my step. Work was still, you know, work, but it wasn't the centre of my life any more. Every waking moment, I spent researching, planning and working out how I could leave my job, flat in the city and move abroad. The first option that revealed itself was to become a digital nomad, where I could travel and work at the same time.

Already having experience in accountancy and also receptionist experience, I decided it would be best to go freelance and become a freelance accountant whilst also using my experience as a receptionist to become part of a virtual receptionist service. Thai not only gave me two streams of income but also the flexibility to work from anywhere at any time, so I could travel to Europe and work as I liked.

After this, all I had to do was to decide on a location, hand in my notice and step into my new life, free of the 9-to-5 and filled with freedom.