2012 - A Year of New Adventures.

Time out - [tahym-out]; (noun)

Definition: A brief suspension of activity; intermission or break.

When we were young, a time out was considered a bad thing. You threw a toy at your sibling? You need to go take a time out. You said a bad word that you only repeated because you heard your parents saying it first? That's a time out, mister. You came home with a bad grade? A slap on the bum and a time out - that'll teach you. With this as an introduction the word "time out", no wonder we had such ill will towards it.

As we grew older, time outs didn't get any better. A time out in sports is called near the end of a game by the losing side to collect themselves and to likely delay the inevitable loss. A time out in grade school takes to form with detention - this time, it was for saying that bad word to that awful science teacher. And unemployment, a sometimes non-voluntary time out from your career, is looked upon with fear and pity.

Unlike the analogies above, I've always seen having a "time out" as a good thing. I'd often say things like, "I had a great time out with my friends at the bar last night," or "That trip to the city centre was a fun time out and about in the streets of Bangkok." Everyone needs a break from their routine. That's why, when I was trying to brainstorm up a name for my new blog, a venture in which I am going to dedicate myself to this year, Terence's Time Out became a perfect fit. It expresses exactly what I'm doing this year, starting February 10th. I quit my job in advertising, an industry that I've been a part of for just over five years, and I'm taking a time out.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Where did decision come from?!"

That's the reaction I've been getting from the people who I've told and have found out from others. It wasn't an easy decision to make. It might have seemed impulsive, but most people don't know it's been actually two years in the making.

It was 10:31pm on Sunday, January 8th. Unlike most Sunday nights, I was in bed already instead of watching the news. I was also grappling with a decision that had been sitting with me since the previous Friday afternoon. After a tough week, I was spent - I was tired of what I was doing and we hadn't even reached Blue Monday, the third Monday of January where depression reigns over the population (look it up on Wikipedia). It was a combination of all aspects of my job - tough feedback from some people I work with, the monotonous nature of what account management work is all about and a general sense of "Why am I working so hard? What am I really accomplishing?" resulted on a full stress-related hive breakout on my hands. So I said enough. Stop complaining about it and do something about it.

Saturday morning, after waking up with a sense of purpose, I took to looking for a new job. Hours was spent reviewing website of potential employers and companies that were a step removed from the agency life. Serious thought was given to Facebook - I mean, how great would it be to work for a company that I have so much affinity for. After some quick cover letter writing and resume touchups, I had applied for about five jobs with various employers and thought, well, that's that.

It wasn't until Sunday morning when I woke up with a conflicted conscience. What am I doing? - I wondered out loud. What makes me think I'm going to be any happier with a new job when I'd likely be as unhappy as I am in my current role? It was time to ask myself some tough questions. Questions that I might not like the answer to. After some hours of soul searching, I decided seek some advice from my friends, Sandy and Alex.

The two of them are just a few of the people who inspired me to take this time out. They quit their jobs last year and travelled Southeast Asia before getting hitched and moving to Paris so that Sandy could pursue a dream of attending a world class chef school. Having met up with them at one time or another on my three vacations this year, I kept asking myself - why don't you do what they did: just quit and go travelling?

Travelling has always been on my mind ever since I went to Europe back in 2007. It went by so quickly I needed a vacation from the vacation. Over the next three years, rather than going on regular trips, I focused on work. It wasn't until this past year, where travel became a priority, no longer taking a backseat to work. After Thailand, Taiwan, the West Coast and France, I realized the times I was most happy was when I was away from work and enjoying my experiences in these foreign places.

My friends put it into perspective: I'm young, I have the means to do this and if I don't, I'll regret you never made the choice when it was mine to make. This advice, coupled along with the final question I asked myself - would getting a promotion later this year make me any happier than I am today (to which the answer was no) - led me to start typing my resignation letter at 11pm on Sunday evening.

The Hours Before the News is Delivered...

After finishing my resignation letter minutes after starting it, I paused. Holy fuck. What am I doing? - I asked myself. My brain started kicking in - how will you pay for all of this? I spent the next two hours looking at my bank accounts to ensure sufficient cash flow. It's about 1am when I figure out, yes, I can take off 12 months and have enough dough to still travel comfortably. Now, who do I tell? Thankfully, when you have friends all over the world, you can call them for a chat without the fear of waking them up as they're already half a day ahead. After sending out some Facebook messages to my close friends, I skyped with my friend Erin in Singapore, whose reaction was a mix of surprise and happiness. Almost 45 minutes of chatting goes by and I realize, shit, I better start thinking about where I want to go.

The next three hours was spent on looking up destinations in Asia - using Taiwan as my base (since my family is there) it's the most cost efficient way for me to take this year off. A free room at my dad's place, free food and reconnecting with my extended family - what were the cons to this decision?!

Little did I know, but it was now 5am and I was still unable to fall asleep - really there was no point. I packed my stuff up and took walked to work. We were blessed with some warm temperatures that 2nd week of January, so the walk was relaxing. I got into work, printed and signed my resignation letter and started catching up on what I needed to do from the week before.

As people started drifting into work during the time that normal people get into work, it was time to tell my boss. It was a good conversation and I was fully ready to have several other conversations with other people that would find out the news. And with each of those conversations, not once was there a doubt that this was the right thing to do. There was nothing left to do but to look forward to everything after February 10th, my last day at work.

Terence's Time Out - A New Adventure Deserves a New Blog

So that's what's been happening in my life for the past two weeks. I agreed to try to keep it on the DL for as long as I can with my bosses at work, but as this is a major life decision, I wanted to give everyone as big of a heads up as possible. I leave near the end of February, with a one way ticket to Taipei (business class to treat myself) and no timeline as to when I'll be back again.

Time Out ended up being my choice for this blog's name. It's an intermission from my life in Toronto and my career to figure out what I want to do with my life, if advertising is the career I want to go back to or if Toronto is where I want to live following my time away.

The break couldn't have come at a better time. I leave advertising with great friends and colleagues who have expressed how happy (and jealous) they are with my decision. I leave my place in the hands of my brother who'll be living here once I take off. And I leave Toronto with such a supportive group of friends, who wish me nothing but the best in my new adventures.

In the coming days and weeks, I will update you on my plans and my last day festivities here in Toronto. Sorry for the long read, but there was a lot to get out there! I can't wait to take you all on the adventure with me.