Steve Belanger, a former vice president at Time Inc. and now the host of "The Gamut with Steve Belanger," joined HuffPost Live to share why he left his six-figure job to pursue his true passion.
"I was living between two worlds. I had these creative aspirations and my job was great, it was as good as I hoped it could get, but it still wasn't enough," Belanger told host Caroline Modarressy-Tehrani.
Belanger had to be honest with himself about what it was he really wanted.
"The money is not all it's cracked up to be. I really wanted to be fulfilled," Belanger said. "After I quit, it was like the sun had come out. I was pursuing what I wanted to do. It's a great feeling when you're in charge."
Belanger's departure stirred mixed feelings among his co-workers about his choice to leave Time Inc.
"The corporate guys really looked at me like, 'You're going to quit your job to do what now?' And they just didn't get it, but the people who had come seen me do stand-up or seen work that I've done were like, 'Yeah, that makes sense, you should totally be doing that instead of this corporate gig,'" he explained.
Belanger offered advice for those in similar situations -- pursue your true calling, but not at the expense of the rest of your life.
"I don't want to be that guy that says follow your dreams no matter what," he said. "You shouldn't always follow your dreams. You need to have a good base. You can't be doing it when you're desperate for money, because when you're desperate you're not going to achieve what you want to achieve. My situation was special."
Did you get a new job? New spouse? New city? We want to hear from you! Share your stories of life-changing breakthrough moments with HuffPost's Third Metric at themoment@huffingtonpost.com.
Related
Before You Go
