“I hated doing something I loved outside of work, feeling alive and engaged, only to have it all disappear the moment I walked through the door of my day job. I didn’t hate the work per se. I liked my boss and the people I worked with. It wasn’t that. I just hated that forty hours of my week didn’t feel anything like the few hours of my weekend when life made sense.”

My BFF, Jon Acuff, wrote that. Okay, maybe he’s not actually my BFF, and… maaaaybe we’ve never actually met in real life. But he tweeted me once, and I like to imagine that if we ever had the chance to meet we would be friends.

I’ve been following his blog and reading his tweets for a little over a year and when he announced the release of his new book, Quitter, I couldn’t have been more excited. The tag line for the book is: closing the gap between your day job and your dream job. Perfect. Just what I need. I pre-ordered my book and anticipated the day it would arrive in the mail, and how I would read it and cry. Yes, cry.

I thought one of two things I would happen: either I was going to learn the secret to turning my dream into my job and the three years I’ve spent working two full time jobs will immediately end, wishful thinking I know, OR I was going to read the story of someone whose life and dreams have mirrored mine. Someone who has worked as hard as I have to make his dream come true, and frankly, some days just the idea that someone out there knows what I’m feeling is enough to make me cry.

Surprisingly, I didn’t cry. But I’ve been reminded how important it is to work hard. To hustle. To prioritize. To dream.

“Don’t accept the lie that work has to be miserable and that dreams are for other people.”

Today is the official release date for Quitter. [Thank you, Amazon for shipping my copy out early!] I encourage you to buy this book it will make you laugh, it will inspire you to work hard, and it will give you valuable dating advice. Last I heard Amazon was sold out but you can buy it on DaveRamsey.com AND how cool is this: you can read the first chapter online. Just do it.

My dream is to be a full time photographer. What’s yours?