The New Boredom

I just quit my dead end job in order to grab a couple bags and head off on a cross country drive for the third year in a row to Quebec, Canada in order to do media coverage of the UCI World Cup races taking place there this summer. I had to think over my choice for a week at my boss’s request and I feel pretty good about my conclusion. I quit my secure job with a steady paycheck in order to head back off into the black abyss of mountain bike media, a land devoid of reliable income, health insurance, security, and regular hours. Why? And why am I telling you to do the same thing…

1- Your paycheck is small and weak. Then fuck it. If you’re going to be poor, you might as well be poor and doing something fun. If you open your paycheck every other week knowing full well that it’s barely going to make ends meet for just long enough to see the next paycheck then your job sucks and you should quit.

2- You have stopped doing anything outside of work. You should never stop learning and progressing as a person. Settling for the mediocre and becoming stagnant is one of the things that will turn you into a fat, lazy, stereotype of an American. Don’t let it happen. Don’t let 9-5 drain you so bad that you are worthless for the other 16 hours of the day.

3- Someone asks you “What kind of world do we live in where a man can’t find a pastel cover for his book?”. Run. Fucking run.

4- Everyone you work with is jaded and older than you. They have settled and they know it and it’s all you have to look forward to if you dont get out while you can.

5- You make excuses for your current job. Don’t justify your current shit job by saying “It’s really not so bad” because it really is. Your job is not Ike Turner. He doesn’t hit you because he loves you. No job is perfect but I would rather be complaining about long hikes in the mountains shooting video/photos of mountain bike racing than sitting under shitty fluorescent light complaining about paper jams and idiot customers. Compare your possible complaints with the ones your shit job piles on you and think it over.

6- Wouldn’t you rather be roosting the pee pee out of some berm?

Sol Vista berms are fun.

7- Paper cuts at the office or scrapped up elbows on the trails?

Sol Vista berms are waaaay fun.

Big thanks to Steve and Moga and Andy at Sol Vista for the photo op and for being a part of making that place an awesome venue for fun times and a reminder that we all need to do something that we love and not something that we can tolerate.

When are you quitting your job?