At 9AM this morning I approached my manager with what would otherwise be a trivial invitation to chat, “Do you have a minute?”

I was holding an innocuous white sheet of paper in my hand.  No threat on a normal day.

But today was special.

The paper I was holding had a simple message typed on it.  The message stated that my last day of work would be October 24th.  The moment of truth was upon me.

“Sure.”

We walked into a conference room, shut the door, and I began the conversation, “I’m quitting.”

I proceeded to explain the situation.  I’m not going to another company, I’m doing something much less responsible.  I am quitting my job and traveling the world with my wife.

He took the news well.  He seemed stunned at first, but after a few minutes chatting about where we’d be going and what we’d be doing he seemed genuinely interested.  It was one of those bittersweet moments in life.  It’s a realization that life changes in unexpected ways.  I am certainly grateful for the professional and personal development opportunities my manager and company provided, but I am ready to tackle new challenges on the other side of the planet.  I definitely want to go back to work after the trip (and will need to in order to pay the bills!), but the time has arrived for me to discover some facets of myself that I haven’t seen before.