I quit my job this week

For real. I resigned from the Rural Learning Center on Monday afternoon. As of Friday, I’m the first Executive Director of a cool new non-profit start-up called Sioux Falls Green Project (though I won’t hit full swing until December). It’ll be a part time gig to start out. My last full-time day at the Rural Learning Center is November 26. I’ll still be helping out with some RLC projects part time, and blogging at ReimagineRural.com.

So, I’ve been really busy pulling all this together, and taking in another Art of Hosting training last week (see some AoH pics here). I forgot my computer while on the road for four days. It was a wonderful thing to forget. Sorry about the little unplanned break on bartblog. Stay tuned…

Oh, and I almost forgot. Thank you Nikki. I do owe you a green beer.

UPDATE/ADD ON (11.17.2008):

I wanted to add a little something to this post. This is kind of a scary time to be leaving a meaningful, secure, full-time job with benefits. A job that I like. With people that I love.

It seems the world is falling down all around us right now. Who knows what kind of economy we’ll be living in. I’ve taken plenty of leaps before, and I’ve never done it with fear–always with the confidence that comes from following a call from deep inside. This is no different, except that the constraints and container have changed.  It means I’ve lost a lot of sleep, and can’t seem to meditate as well as normal lately. So I guess that’s fear.

A good friend taught me something about fear recently. She told me how she’s come to recognize fear as a signal. Just like the leaves changing color and falling to the ground is a signal that something is coming. So, not something bad, per se, but something big. This is something big and important enough to risk it.