Melissa was exhausted. She wanted nothing more than a day to her damn self to do whatever she wanted without question. But with a full-time job and two part-time jobs in the gig economy, she had barely any downtime. Factor in trying to be a good partner, running errands, taking care of herself and her dog and her partner on a daily basis, and all the other minutiae that factor into being a living, breathing human in the twenty-first century left her with almost no downtime. Months of working without a real break were taking their toll: her sleep was erratic; exercise was nonexistent; balanced meals were a joke. Her partner, thankfully, had a stable 9-to-5 in a profession they loved but she never fully understood, like whatever Chandler Bing did that made him good money but none of his “friends” knew what it was.

The rat race was getting to her, and she wasn’t sure how much longer she could keep up with all this work. The simple answer would just be to quit one-plus jobs, but life is never that simple, is it? Or, rather, she knew she could, and should, give up her day job, but leaving stability for the unknown is always a terrifying leap. Add in a hefty dose of “hey you need health insurance” mixed with “your bank accounts are actually positive for once from all this work,” and it made it hard to leave.... Click here to read the rest of the story!