The Pursuit of You
Finding Your Dream and Pursuing Your Purpose
by
Book Cover & Preview Text
“They’re having a meeting about you.”
“I know.”
“This is serious.”
“I know it is.”
“I don’t think you understand. The Head of Sales, half the Supervisors for the department, and all of the Leads are in the meeting. They’re trying to figure out what to do with you.”
“I get it.”
“You think you’ll get fired?”
“No.”
“What? Why not?”
“Because, that would be too easy.”
“Too easy?”
“Yes, way too easy.”
“Alex, please step into my office.”
This was the conversation I had with a co-worker before being told, “What you have done is completely out of line. If it were up to me, you would be fired in a heartbeat. But management decided to give you a warning and hopes you have learned your lesson.” Basically a slap on the wrist.
I wasn’t relieved. I wasn’t happy. In all honesty, I was disappointed.
Being fired would’ve been great; unfortunately, management knew that firing me would’ve been great for me too. Corporations know these things. They know the characteristics of the employees they hire. They realized I wanted out a long time ago. That’s why they kept me there.
It’s not as if it was a bad job. There was full health, vision, and dental insurance benefits. There was even car insurance. The pay was great for a twenty-two-year-old. A couple thousand every two weeks is great, especially compared to not having a job at all. But it wasn’t great for me. It was depressing. It was boring. Most of the days were spent gazing out the window, watching people drive back and forth on the highway.
You could always tell the ones who were heading to work and the ones who were heading home. There was a difference in speed and control. The ones heading home drove at a very calm, soothing pace. I doubt they went over sixty-five mph. The ones who were heading to work, however, drove like possessed maniacs; swerving from lane to lane, cutting people off, and almost running others off the road.
What is so important about going to work?
You get to your desk, sign in, and spend most of the day thinking about all the other things you could be doing. As you can see, I wasn’t the most productive employee; no special certificates or gold stars were put under my name at work. Which is why my co-worker was so surprised when I came back and told him how I received a strict warning and was told never to do it again. Yet here I was–young, somewhat smart, halfway decent looking, and with a promising career–at the wrong job. In truth, it’s not really fair to say this particular corporation was bad.
Few realize how many corporations work in this manner. Most require mandatory overtime and sprinkle in a few lunch breaks to make it seem “less stressful.” They give out discounts, free this or that; simply to make everything seem copacetic. Most people think that this type of living is completely normal. Until you realize that the life you’re living seems kind of dreary. And for some reason I was starting to see the big picture. But how is that possible? I’d only worked there for a couple months.
Yes, I graduated college, but most of it, to be honest, was having fun. Time was spent less on learning and more on partying, tailgating, and figuring out who ate the last piece of the two-week-old pizza, that someone forgot to put in the refrigerator. So how was it I was seeing the big picture at this job and people who had been working there for years did not? It’s not like they weren’t intelligent. Most of them were fairly wise. The conversations we had were so far beyond my years, they had actually inspired me to do more with my life. But it seems as if they had lost their inspiration. It was replaced with something else: security.
It made sense. They wanted a “secure” job. They wanted a “secure” paycheck. It’s understandable. Who doesn’t want to feel “secure”?
A few months passed, and I left the company. My parents were frustrated and didn’t understand. Mainly because I told them I was fired. My feelings were sympathetic because truly, I had received what was expected with a college degree: a “secure” job with a “secure” paycheck. But for one reason or another, I wanted more. Sounds pretty greedy, right? However, I didn’t necessarily want more money, nor did I want more time off. I wanted more out of life, and still do. That–to me–is freedom: being able to experience the most life has to offer. Who wants to go on vacation and then come back to a depressing life at work?
So I decided to leave the company. There was no specific plan in mind. There was no budget set up to live off the remaining amount of money in my bank account. In all honesty, during this time, there seemed to be a lot of fear. Not any ordinary fear, but the type of fear that grasps you into a paralyzing state. And as frightening as it was, it did not last. The initial fear was combated with an overwhelming sense of freedom. Even though there was no specific plan, I knew what I was going to do. My next step wasn’t extravagant or brilliantly complicated; in all actuality, it was exactly the opposite. It was very simple. It was to simply do something.
The $2,000 is the pay I left on the table when I quit my job. I went from living in a luxury apartment to being broke, moving into a townhouse, and having nothing but a dream in my mind and lint in my hands. My parents didn't know, and I refused to tell anybody the reason for the departure. If it happened to come up in conversation I was quick to respond, "They let me go. Something about company layoffs. You know, corporate stuff."
How could I tell them the truth?
How could I tell them the reason I left was to start living my dream, for which I had no plan or even the slightest idea where to begin? Surely they would have assumed I had lost my mind. I spent hours upon hours in my new, empty townhouse thinking, "Why did I leave my job?" I knew it was to start living my dream and finish my next book, but I wasn't even clear on if this was a sign from God or a rebellious tendency gone awry.
All I knew was that I needed to escape the stress. The money wasn’t worth me coming home depressed, worn out, and in bed by seven o'clock, just so I could do it all over again the next morning. I even had a nervous breakdown at work. I had a breakdown, of all people. I'd like to say I had a midlife crisis, but I was still young. It was frustrating, and nothing was adding up.
Here I was, twenty-two years old with a published book, and I'm working here? Did I graduate college for this? Did I risk ridicule for this? There is no way this could be my life. This can't be my destiny. So I turned in my badge, walked out the lobby, and immediately felt a wave of fear. What was I doing? Where would I go? How will I live without any money? I panicked for all of one month. And you know what? The panic subsided as quickly as it reared its ugly head.
I began to focus. Some would call this an epiphany. I wouldn't say it was that. It wasn’t a profound or deep notion. I still had no idea what I was going to do, how I would form my dream, or even what my next book would be about. The only thing I knew was that I needed to start, and I needed to start now. I needed to start living the life I wanted, and my small amount of patience wouldn’t let me wait any longer. No more customer service. No more getting cussed out by strangers who couldn't even remember my name. Enough was enough. It was time to start pursuing my dream.
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About the Book
Do you ever find yourself daydreaming, thinking about all the other things you could be doing? Maybe it’s starting your own bakery. Maybe it’s pursuing a music career. Maybe it’s taking that mission trip you have always wanted to take. Maybe it’s something as simple as traveling.
Throughout it all there is some underlying doubt or hesitation—doubt over accomplishing these dreams and hesitation due to the fear of pursuing your dreams. This fear is paralyzing because of what you could lose: the loss of friends, the loss of a job, the loss of security, or the loss of family. These are all aspects of life that we hold dearly.
So how do you attain these dreams and make them more than mere illusions?
This is the daily question we ask ourselves. This is the daily question I ask myself. Through work and family responsibilities, we delay pursuit of finding the answer. We decided a long time ago that these dreams would remain elusive. But what if they could be achieved?
The Pursuit of You will show you the importance and keys to determining why these dreams are important to you. Once you know the why, the how does not matter. It will no longer be based on sheer willpower. It will be based on an instinctive drive guiding you along a path you never thought existed.
The experiences and struggles the author tells reflect real-life hindrances to accomplishing these dreams. The author establishes the importance of the foundation of the why behind these dreams in order for you to achieve the life you have always wanted.
About the Author
Alex Warren was born in Desoto, Texas. He moved to Lima, Ohio at an early age. The contrast in weather conditions–from the year round warm Texas climate to the seasonal cold and colder temperatures of Ohio–allowed Alex to experience a variety of interactions and personal experiences which influences the writing he does today.
Alex graduated with a Bachelor’s in Communication from The Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio, after three years. While there, he worked with the Big Ten Network in an internship program interacting with college sports. Contributing to Alex’s major were his published articles in
The Lantern–The Ohio State University’s student paper.
When not writing, Alex enjoys reading books of different genres with an admiration for books on spiritual and personal growth. Alex’s first book, Wisdom and Vision, was published in 2013 and he continues to reside in Columbus, Ohio.
The Pursuit of You is Alex’s second publication.