I've submitted my resignation to Kiewit and in just 10 days we will be packing up in a U-Haul and migrating to Chicagoland. My wife, our daughters, and I will finally be on a journey that we've talked about and thought about for several years.
Why move to Chicago?
No, we don't have family there. No, I wasn't transferred by my employer. It was a choice. We're moving there because "we want to". I don't think we need much more reason than that, and I'm not sure that there is a better reason.After talking about this for several years it became very clear that it wasn't going to just happen. It would only happen if we made it happen. So in our minds, we could either look back in 10 or 20 years and say "I wish we would've..." or we can make it happen right now. So that's our choice, and in the process we might be making a big mistake or we might be making the best decision we've ever made.
As Steve Jobs said,
"You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something - your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. Because believing that the dots will connect down the road will give you the confidence to follow your heart even when it leads you off the well worn path; and that will make all the difference."
New Opportunity
Another thing that I've wanted to do ever since I worked on the SAP HCM implementation at Union Pacific during 2011 and 2012 is that I would like to do another SAP implementation and perhaps become an SAP consultant that does implementations. The time during that project at UP has been my most fun and memorable in my professional career and also the hardest I've worked.I've accepted a position at Accenture to do just that - be an SAP consultant. I'm very excited - I'm ready to work hard and learn a lot.
This also presents a big change at home, since I will be travelling every week and won't be home every evening like I've always been. Obviously I have concern there, but I'm sure my family and myself will work through it. My wife has encouraged me to go for this and so with her blessing, I'm looking forward to this new opportunity.
Scared
I'd be lying if I said I wasn't scared - I feel very uncomfortable. And I guess that's the third reason why I want to make this move. Because it is uncomfortable - and I believe that we grow the most when we're put in uncomfrotable situations. And I also believe that we can choose to grow or life can force us to grow (usually through unfortunate circumstances) . So hopefully by doing this, we're choosing how we grow.Bittersweet
When we leave Omaha and Nebraska in 10 days, we leave a lot of friends and family and head to a place where we don't know anyone. Change is hard - and we feel a little bit selfish. This is something that we have taken into careful consideration. Obviously our families are important to us and we realize that we, and more imporantly, our girls will be less accessible after the move. I think that's unfortunate, but I also think that our girls will grow. They will learn not to fear change, but to welcome it. It's exciting - it's an adventure - it's a journey. It's our journey as a family - that we need to go on - if only to say that we did.I'm scared, but more importanly, I'm excited.