Photo by Evan Burgher - In honor of parkour class, here’s a photo of me exactly 4 years ago on my last day working at Oakley, after quitting my job to pursue a creative career in NYC. The decision to quit my job has been one of the most significant and rewarding decisions I have ever made. If you’re unhappy with your life, I hope you find the courage to break free and do what you love.

Here’s an excerpt from my farewell email that I wrote to my coworkers on March 26th, 2010 with teary eyes: “Everything, even the best things in life, must come to an end at some point. I’ve decided to pursue a creative career full time, at least for now. I’ve always been a creative person and it’s not a life that we choose for ourselves in the words of Barbara Streisand. It is a difficult path, but it is who I am and what makes me come alive. I can stay up all night on a work night working on a project or play music until the early hours of the morning and even wake up before the sun comes up to take pictures. So next Friday, I will hop on a plane bound for NY, South Africa, and Mozambique to embark on a new adventure, travel for 9 months, and film a documentary about the human experience. I will also have the opportunity to take a road trip across the states, which has been a long time dream of mine. Afterwards, I will move to NY which is something that I’ve always wanted to do at some point in my life. I’m really going for it and taking a leap of faith.”

The last 4 years have been absolutely incredible, and I have never looked back. 

Great Things Are Bound To Happen To You Just For Showing Up

“You were once wild here. Don’t let them tame you.” - Isadora Duncan

I love how you can do whatever you want in NYC, and there are no barriers and nothing stopping you. For example, I want to learn how to pop, so I’m able to take the train 2 stops from my house and take classes at New York’s premier dance center. Some of the students in my classes are well on their way to becoming professional dancers, and it’s intimidating as all hell. But part of the beauty of it all is that there’s no judgement and my peers still clap for me after I messed up performing my dance routine. My Japanese dance partner even gave me multiple bows, and we all know very well that there’s no way you will ever win a bowing contest against a Japanese person. People want to foster creativity and help you along the creative journey; they recognize how much courage it takes just to show up. 

I also love how there are so many unexpected, surprising moments in NY. I’ve had the wonderful opportunity to spend a lot of quality time with a friend from college that lives in San Francisco. In fact, we’ve spent more time together in NYC over the past year than we did when we were practically next door neighbors in college. I always look forward to the random, unexpected text message from him. Last week, he texted me shortly after returning from Southeast Asia. Two days later, we were enjoying MGMT and Dinosaur Jr. perform live at Barclay’s Center, thanks to a producer that kindly gave my friend the tickets. 

The next day we waited 20 minutes in the cold, falling snow to experience 1 minute in Yayoi Kusama’s “I Who Have Arrived In Heaven” infinity room. It was well worth it. There was another infinity room with a line of crazy New Yorkers willing to endure the cold for 2 hours for a chance to experience it for 45 seconds.

Afterwards, I attended my friend’s opening exhibit, Collision in Cycles, and some talented kids from Juilliard busted out a live musical score to his film as it was projected onto a big screen. It was a powerful, magical, and unexpected multi-sensory experience. But then again, you can’t really expect anything less from a wild gathering of NY creatives. I walked away feeling incredibly inspired and so grateful to be here.

In NY, great things are bound to happen to you just for showing up. All those unexpected moments make life exciting, wild, and worth living. So go out there and make it count.

I worked here for over 5.5 years and can still remember quite vividly the first time I ever drove up and walked through these doors. In March of 2010, I finally found the #courage to quit my job and pursue my love and passion of telling stories full time, and fulfilling my long time dream of moving to #NYC. I’m still thankful for all the friends I made, all the fun experiences I had, and everything I learned. If you don’t like your job or want to do something else with your life, I hope you will also find the courage someday to break free and do what you need to do. It’s not easy, but it could very well be the best decision you ever make. #oakley #california #tbt #throwbackthursday from June 17, 2009, image #186 from my #5DmarkII straight from the camera