UGH, it’s Monday morning. My alarm is screaming at me. I am still so tired but need to get up. I dread the immediate tasks ahead - get my daughter’s lunch packed, breakfast made, and dressed all before 8AM, so I can get myself ready and get to work by 9AM, which I give up on trying because the stress that came with it was absurd compared to the benefit of being on corporate time.
After a full day of mental tackling and battling, I watch the clock closely around 5PM. On good days, I rush home at 6PM hoping I will make it early enough to have dinner with my toddler daughter, but most of the time I don’t. By the time I get home after my commute, she is done eating and snuggled up to daddy. It is sweet to see, but my heart breaks a little. Occasionally, I have to pick her up from daycare by 5:30PM, which means I have to leave the office by 4:30PM. I dread having to ask if I can leave early. I feel guilty that I am not being a model employee, and somehow feel less because I have to be a mother. I know I am not alone in this experience.
Don’t get me wrong, though my design director position was stressful, I loved designing sneakers everyday, but the constant exhaustion started to take a toll on my mental health. The Great Resignation was coined during the Pandemic, but according to this HBR study, it didn’t start there. Quality of life is becoming very important in our society and I don’t see it reverting.
Knowing it is a long shot, I launched an Etsy store during the pandemic and joined an artist incubator. I worked on my art in the early mornings before my daughter got up, late at night after she went to bed, and on Saturdays when she was playing at her grandparents’. I was determined to make it as an independent artist - to free myself from corporate life so I can have dinner with my daughter everyday.
Then, I fell hard into the world of NFT in 2021. I listened to this Tim Ferris podcast and the game totally changed for me - for the bigger. I was on the elliptical when it clicked, I remember the feeling was so overwhelming that I had to pause my workout and brace myself. My typically very noisy inner world became quiet, I saw a path in front of me, and I saw the end result. Even though everything in between is fuzzy, I know it is within my abilities to figure out. I strongly recommend anyone to listen to this podcast - if you are not familiar already, to get an understanding of the profound changes that Web3 is creating in our world - RIGHT NOW.
I get goosebumps when I think about how at this very moment, we are in the middle of a creators’ reckoning. Web3 and NFT have created even more opportunities for creators from all walks of life to have a chance in making it on their own. The idea of having 1000 true fans to have a sustaining business of any kind rings truer now through NFTs than ever. This is my chance, the time is now, and I have to move fast. With the support of my amazing husband and help of friends, I have a vision for my own NFT project under Pinkyhoot, and this month, I finally quit my dream job to work on it! I couldn’t be more excited.
Quitting my dream job to have control of my own schedule back is the manifestation of a bigger movement in our society. For those who are seeking, creators have ample financial opportunities to make it on their own terms in Web3. Corporations that rely on creative talents must shift their views on talent retention, and perhaps rethink hiring all together because it will become harder to hire experienced creative talents. Things like incorporating AI software into product design life cycles, or exploring overseas resources, which is not just limited to manufacturing anymore, will become necessary in the near future.
This is just the beginning of a major shift, and it is so exciting for creatives like myself.