how to quit your day job for a life in the arts
We chat to two creatives who have ditched their 9 to 5 in pursuit of their artistic practices.
There’s a particular kind of leap of faith that is required to change career gears. For some, it’s simply an inevitable road that they were always going to travel down. For others, they’re paving the path as they go. Sometimes it doesn’t work out, and sometimes there’s no looking back.
We caught up with two creatives who are in the midst of this gear shift in their own artistic practices. Graphic designer Selena Repanis recently quit her day job at Safe+Equal (an organisation that works to prevent family and gender-based violence) to study in Estonia, while musician and visual artist Jasper van Daatselaar left their home and work behind in Melbourne/Naarm to travel and make music in Europe, having ended up in the continent’s creative capital of Berlin. They dish up a slew of tips for anyone wanting to make a similar gear-shift in their own lives.
LISTEN TO YOUR GUT For Selena, the idea of studying overseas came to her before she even knew what she was specifically looking for – but she did know that she was looking for a change of some kind. “A university lecturer of mine studied this MA and spoke very highly about it,” she says. “I took the opportunity to go and visit her in Tallinn, and being there helped me believe that I could make a big life change.”
As for Jasper, their decision to jet off to the other side of the world came from a desire to “refresh the mind”. “I’d been working for myself for a long time, and it was time to pause the scene and pop the bubble I was in. I wanted to make something new.”
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KNOW WHEN YOU’RE READY While Selena believed that she could make the move, she wasn’t quite ready to. “I wanted to try some more things in Melbourne first; teaching, creative campaigns, saving money. I did those things, and then eventually I saw that the university was hosting an online information session. So, I joined the (3am Melbourne time) Zoom call from the band room in my old sharehouse, surrounded by my housemates’ instruments. I crawled back into bed feeling a little bit terrified, but mostly ecstatic.”
Feeling ready to move on from a job doesn’t necessarily mean that it’ll be easy to leave it. Leaving a day job that she really liked was a hard decision for Selena to make. “I feel honoured to have worked with truly brilliant women every day and produce creative campaigns to inspire hope and change,” she says. Ultimately, Selena’s desire for a new chapter in her story was the driving force that propelled her ahead – even though she had to leave a workplace that she loved behind, she knew that she was ready to.
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EMBRACE THE UNKNOWN An unwavering thirst for change ignited both of these creatives to take their respective leaps of faith. But while that thirst led them to jumping away from the ledge of safety, it’s their ongoing curiosity in the unknown that is keeping them in the air. It’s unsurprising, really, that they’ve both gravitated toward a chapter that provides a bucketload of unknowns: living overseas. “Travelling is so inspiring,” Jasper says about why they moved to Europe. “Or, at the very least, eye opening. You see new things, talk to new people, hear new sounds, try to navigate foreign supermarkets. All of this feeds into my writing. Also, time – I have so much time. If reflection was a job, I would be a CEO.”
After trying a bunch of different things in Melbourne, Selena realised that her thirst for change was bigger than her home city. “I like to try new things,” she says. “I like to say an enthusiastic ‘yes’ to good opportunities and then figure out the details later. I find that I kick myself off a cliff into a new chapter every couple of months. I’m reminding myself that there’s meaning to be found in letting go of control. I’m hoping for my world to open up again, and again.”
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ROLL WITH THE PUNCHES When plans change – whether by design or from out of your control – what will keep you afloat is your ability to adapt. “I was aggressively trying to write an album,” Jasper says about arriving in Europe. “But then, a few weeks ago, I looked out the window of my studio to a rare 35-degree day in Berlin, and realised that this is the time to be lying in the grass. I’m now just slowly writing songs, pretending that I don’t have a goal (I’m definitely going to make an album), and putting a new live set together. I’m mostly watching the horizon at the moment.” Chasing a lifestyle or a career change isn’t just about what your life looks like once you achieve it – soaking up those small moments in between the big ones is just as significant.
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WORDS OF WISDOM If you’re thinking of trading in your day job for a creative passion, Selena and Jasper have some final nuggets of advice to help you make the leap. “Wear your heart on your sleeve. Honesty is good for everyone – it’s disarming,” Selena says. “Also, try not to be afraid of losing.”
For Jasper, their advice is simple: “Quit your job,” they say. “It’s awesome. It can be really hard, but for me it’s the only way. Time is precious. Share your talent. Be proud to be an artist.”
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