Why My Husband Quit His Job and We Decided to Hit the Road in a Fifth Wheel Trailer

He came to me again, his face downcast. This wasn’t the first time. Once again, he confided to me the lack of joy he felt about his job. And in his words he said, “I don’t know if I can keep this up…”

It’s called a Sales Engineer, a mix of engineering and sales (we joke that it’s for engineers with a personality). Honestly, there’s nothing wrong with the job itself. Frankly, it’s a great career for many reasons. But, sometimes we can just plain become burnt out.

He felt guilty that he was burnt out from this career. Most people wish they had a job like his with flexible work hours, amazing perks, and a handsome paycheck to go with it. He’s worked hard at it. Twelve solid years in fact. It was his first job after college, and in those early years, there was no reason for us to change course.

But…

The stress of this job is also what makes it profitable. Not everyone has the capability to handle it. It’s demanding. Technical. And you oversee tens of millions of dollars’ worth of client accounts each year. And oftentimes, you deal with very difficult people. Honestly, I wouldn’t last one week in his job.

But my husband, Jeff, handles stress more easily than most. So I thought… we both thought… he could handle it. However, in the last couple years, I’ve noticed the stress of his job taking it’s toll on him. In fact, it was getting to the point where I wondered if it was really worth the financial stability it offered anymore.

We have a problem though: we live in Southern California—a high cost of living area. And even though I’ve worked part-time over the years to contribute to our income as well (both as a dental hygienist and author/coach), his job has predominantly pays the bills.

But for the last two years, we’ve been seriously reconsidering and re-assessing how we live our life. We’ve talked about our goals as a family and have dug deeper into understanding our character–the talents we’ve each been given by our Creator. We’ve talked about changing careers and what that would look like. We’ve talked about my change of career from being a dental hygienist to being an author and life coach, and what a joy this has been to my life. We talked about my growing business ministry and yet the instability of a writing career. We talked about options for him and what this would look like. We’ve discussed how to make significant changes as a family towards the goals and dreams we believe we are called to by God.

In each conversation, there was a growing sense in our hearts that change was coming. Someday, we knew Jeff would quit his job and we would embark on this invitation of faith by Jesus.

But… have you ever been told “Not yet” by someone? You want to know the answer to something or maybe you are feeling ready to make a choice about something (like quitting your job) and you hear, “Not yet!” In American culture, this is a hard concept for us. We’ve become used to fast service, quick answers, and immediate change to our stressful situations.

But there’s something beautiful about wrestling with the things we are told, “not yet” to. There’s a cultivation of character—a pruning towards patience. Patience is something we are told by God to practice as we seek to implement the fruits of the Spirit in our life.

For the past ten months, we’ve been waiting on God’s timing. Asking Him to help us be present and content in the now, even though we had a growing sense that some significant changes were coming. We initially thought it would be two more years until Jeff quit his job with a potential move in the someday future. It’s wasn’t concrete, but it WAS there. This knowing that change was coming, and yet I still didn’t know when, where or what would happen exactly.

Now I know it’s because we will be everywhere and nowhere at the same time. But it wasn’t the right time to know, and pursue it…until now.

My husband’s last day at his job is August 31^st. After that we will be embarking on an invitation of faith, a redesigning of our life that more accurately fits our desires, goals, and the talents we’ve been gifted. Not only that, but we both feel a deep sense of peace from God that this is indeed the next step for us.

So, we just purchased a giant truck to pull our 41 ft. fifth wheel trailer that we also purchased and are picking up next week. We will live in it until we figure out where we want to settle down. Likely, our house will be put on the market to sell and there’s a strong (like 95%) possibility that we will move out-of-state where it’s more affordable and has certain elements of a family friendly atmosphere we desire. We’ve also come to realized that we aren’t city folks. Our roots of growing up in small towns never truly left us and we feel our hearts aching for less traffic, more greenery, and more open spaces to breath. My husband loves to fish (but stream fishing in SoCal is severely lacking), so we have our sights set on an outdoorsy type of area (but close enough to the city for this girl to get her nails done on occasion). I will work while on the road (thankfully as an author and coach, as long as I have a computer, internet and phone, I can work from anywhere), and Jeff will work on getting his heart back. It’s going to be a beautiful, hard, life-giving, and challenging experience in all ways. I honestly can’t wait!

I think life is too short to be in a job where you are miserable. There are SO many options these days, but most people are too afraid to pursue it. Or explore it. Or do whatever needs to be done to attain it. Simply put, we let fear override the potential for better.

I’m so thankful my husband worked so hard these past twelve years in his job because it’s enabled us to take this leap without being overly strained financially. Without going into much detail, we are in a good position to do this because we’ve been diligent in saving our money for many years. And now with my growing coaching business (thank YOU to all my amazing clients!) it gives us the courage to believe God will provide for us along the way.

You need to know you have options to the tensions you are facing right now. You also need to know that God may be asking you to wait to make your next move. It’s so hard to know and discern what’s best for you. Pray, seek Him, and discuss it with your spouse. Use the waiting time wisely to prepare for what you know is ultimately coming. Then, trust and make that next step in obedience when you know the time has come.

This adventure I know won’t be without it’s hardships. It’s already bittersweet as I hug friends I’m already saying goodbye to in Southern California. As I walk along my backyard next to the pool edge where I thought my kids would be enjoying pool time all the way into their high school years, tears fall. Thinking about giving up my dream home here in order to pursue another dream of simplicity, serenity, and stewarding our spiritual gifts, a sense of loss and longing mingles. It’s all bittersweet. I’m both grieving and extremely gratified at everything set before me. I’m ready, and yet it’s difficult to let go of some things even though you know it’s necessary to gain what matters to us most.

I will be sure to keep you updated here as I share how I’m continually being refined and restored by Him in this great adventure we call life.