I want to live a meaningful life from today forward

Since I quit my job in May 2011, I have had some ups and downs as can be expected.  I was so ecstatic to have left the place that was giving me so much misery, and excited about a different future than I had imagined before.  At the same time, I was in some sort of shock that I'd actually, well, QUIT my job.  Who does that?  Who just up and quits a stable, decent paying, great benefits job voluntarily?  In my world up until then, nobody who had a brain, that was who!!!!  However, somehow my mindset has changed a little bit here and a little bit there over time, and even though I was brought up to think that being a responsible employee and doing your job well and having a good job was all it was about, I don't feel that way anymore so much.  I am somewhere on the fence right now about getting another job that could turn into a second career or just throwing caution to the wind and trying to make a go at being self employed.  The problem with being self employed, of course, is that you are responsible for figuring out how you are going to get paid.   I'm still working on that.  So for now, I am also looking for another job.  However, my mindset is now more of the "get a job now to pay the bills and keep an open mind about other ways to produce income." 

There are so many possibilities out there now,  it is somewhat refreshing to realize that I am free to make my own choices and decisions about what kind of life I want to lead, instead of feeling trapped by my job and that I had to stay there to be safe and make sure my future was stable.  Whatever happens from this day forward, I will make it one way or another, and the delicious fact of the matter is that it will be an adventure with twists and turns and hills and valleys instead of a boring flat drive from Iowa through Nebraska on a flat, straight highway.  Adventures might bring about some discomfort and even fear at times, but they sure do allow for a lot of personal growth.   Stable, boring jobs with no chance for advancement don't allow for much of anything except dying a little bit every day as you inch towards that coveted goal of retirement.   I'll take adventure any day!!!!