dreams coming true

i can't wait to live like this next year-- waking up without stressing about starting the day, because my day is mine to make, my work mine to decide, and income flows in from many sources!

i didn't realize it until lately, but i could actually afford to take a one full year's leave off without pay from my regular university teaching job by schoolyear 2007-08, mainly because of my new peace journalism three-year project commencing this april where i'll be paid in Euros!

i plan on spending the first of the 3 year project's honoraria for paying off the last of my credit card debts and updating my mortgate, at least. after that, the funds are clear for my doing anything with them as i please. since i have my 3rd summer free by next summer 2007, i figure id apply for my one-year leave by the end of that summer, to continue my "vacation" from the university for another 12 months, which would be a long-deserved treat to my self. i want to be spending it doing lots of walking and exercise and living more healthily, reading (ooh i have a lot to catch up on with my growing collection of still-to-be-read books!), writing, and working from home.

it wouldn't also mean all rest and play; i plan on using the free year to focus on my mom's and our family's internet-based export business, where im the lead person tasked to make it take off. if things really go well, i can even "retire" from my university work already and fulfill my dream of working and earning independently from home, by the time im 40!

still, teaching remains a deep love... maybe it's just the present environment (teaching undergraduates in a regimented administrative culture) that's not compatible with my growth and goals anymore... after i finish my MA in Conflict and Reconciliation Studies this year, i could also apply for a continued scholarship with Pax Christi for a doctorate in the same, which will qualify me to move away from teaching undergraduates to professionals now in the graduate school!

and all the while, i thought i needed that one-year writing grant to have this free year for me!

im saying i can't wait to "live like this next year" because im actually slowly living it now, this working from home dream life, although there's still my university job. offers for more writing projects keep coming in; it's just me who has to decline or postpone some because my university work takes a lot of energies and attention out of me. hmmm..... no wonder im feeling less and less interested in my day job now, while my passion, my incandescence, is pulling me towards more of the independent freelancing and net-earning lifestyle i crave now.

one door is closing, while more are opening, and i can't help it, nor do i want to, even if i could, anymore.

it's time to move on to better, happier, more soul-compatible things.

oohhh, i can't wait!!!