by Breyanna Knoll

I quit my job this week.

No, not this job. My day job.

The salary of an intern varies between none to little, so I worked at a real estate office in addition to interning at the magazine. Someone is taking maternity leave here, and St. Louis Woman offered me a writing position for the summer. I will get paid and even be listed in the masthead as an editorial assistant!

I am obviously excited about it, although I am also a little concerned. I know a lot of people have trouble staying in the present, but I am particularly bad at that.

I constantly plan, change my mind and begin planning again. So instead of looking forward to my May through August position right now, I keep wondering what I will do after August.

I am not afraid to take the leap. It felt good to quit my job that basically involved babysitting realtors and using my degree in no way whatsoever. I will enjoy having a schedule where I work all day at one place instead of mornings at one and afternoons at another. And most of all, I'm finally being paid to write.

No, the leap is very exciting and not scary at all. It’s the landing that I’m worried about. Will I land on my feet and slide into another job with my impressively updated resume, or will I careen headfirst into a faltering publishing industry in a faltering economy? Maybe it will be a little of both. Even though I have no idea how this will all work out, I have to believe that I will someday look back and realize it was an excellent idea to quit my day job.

I am really making an effort not to obsess about this. As much as I have enjoyed interning here and writing these entries, I look forward to getting paid and feeling like I have a real job. I just have to remind myself not to look so far forward that I forget where I am.

by Breyanna Knoll