She Stop Google and Spent a 12 months Touring; Modified Her View of Success

This as-told-to essay is predicated on a dialog with Sara Wilczynska, the founding father of Swil Arts Studio. She left her job as a software program engineer at Google, spent a yr touring along with her accomplice, and found watercolors in Thailand. Her phrases have been edited for size and readability.

I used to be born in Warsaw within the Eighties, when Poland was nonetheless a communist nation. I keep in mind witnessing the shift into capitalism.

I earned a grasp’s diploma in laptop science from the University of Warsaw, interning in Barcelona and learning overseas in Edinburgh alongside the best way.

At 25, I moved to London to work as a software program engineer at an funding financial institution. I stayed practically 5 years, however even then, there was a quiet voice within the background asking whether or not this was actually what I wished to do.

I began working at Google in 2015

I joined Google in Zurich, and it felt like a step nearer to one thing extra significant. After a few yr and a half, I obtained my US visa and was transferred to New York, the place I labored on the information part of the search engine.

On paper, my profession was all the things I had labored towards. Google was versatile, supportive, and stuffed with sensible folks. I had autonomy over my work — from the initiatives to my bodily working location — and the advantages have been unimaginable.

My days included coding, conferences, but additionally yoga lessons, fitness center classes, connoisseur birthday meals, and even sponsored massages. There was additionally stability — a superb paycheck and inventory grant choices.

That’s additionally what made it so exhausting to go away.

Later, as my profession progressed — I used to be promoted twice inside Google — there was extra high-level work, plenty of stakeholder conferences, and fewer hands-on coding work.

I began to really feel disconnected. A rising sense that the tempo wasn’t sustainable for me. That fixed stimulation — screens, deadlines, notifications, expectations — was pulling me away from myself.

Six years later, throughout the pandemic, I moved to San Diego with my accomplice, Valentina.

Something shifted

It was residing in San Diego that pressured me to decelerate. There was nature in every single place — the ocean, the desert, the mountains — and all of a sudden I had house to pause.

I began noticing small issues once more. The scent of jasmine on a heat night. The easy pleasure of consuming a fish taco. That realization made it unattainable to disregard the misalignment in my work.

At first, I attempted to repair it with out leaving. I educated in sound therapeutic and hosted classes. I took on completely different initiatives at Google, together with main range and inclusion initiatives. I even lowered my working hours.

None of it totally addressed the core feeling. I keep in mind considering, “Am I just being too picky? Am I asking for too much?” Because there was nothing objectively improper with my job. It wasn’t poisonous. I revered my colleagues.

At some level, I understood {that a} job can tick each field — it could actually look good on paper — but when one thing deeper is lacking, it isn’t sufficient.

Even then, leaving wasn’t simple. One of the most important challenges was not figuring out what would come subsequent. I stored considering I wanted a plan. A transparent, logical subsequent step.

But finally, I spotted that ready for certainty was simply protecting me caught.

So my accomplice and I decided that felt radical on the time. I give up my job on the finish of 2022 — Valentina’s job had been eradicated the earlier yr — and we determined to journey for a yr. We rented out our residence in San Diego and went touring.

That yr modified all the things

We spent most of 2023 in Southeast Asia, with shorter journeys to Australia and New Zealand. At first, we moved shortly, however finally we slowed down. We spent six months in Koh Tao, a small island in Thailand.

Life there felt easy. My accomplice was working as a dive grasp, and I had one thing I hadn’t skilled in years: unstructured time.

That’s once I picked up watercolors. I had no formal coaching. I simply felt drawn to it. I began taking on-line lessons, sketching scenes from the island: fruit stands, village views, little on a regular basis moments.

I began sharing my work in native Facebook neighborhood teams in Koh Tao. I did not count on a lot, however folks started reaching out on Facebook — not simply to go with the work, however to purchase it. They would inform me, “This captures my memory of this place perfectly.”

When our yr of journey ended, I made a decision to decide to artwork. Not as a result of I had all the things found out, however as a result of I did not wish to ignore that pull anymore. We prolonged our versatile way of life — house-sitting throughout the US to scale back residing prices — and I began constructing my studio, Swil Arts, in San Diego, from the bottom up.

Now, that is the place I create authentic watercolor illustrations. Then I reproduce them as illustrated items, together with prints and homeware.

My days are very completely different now. I spend mornings portray, afternoons on the enterprise aspect, dealing with shopper communications, web site content material, and enterprise technique. I earn my earnings via direct-to-consumer retail, wholesale partnerships with boutiques, and customized artwork commissions for each people and types.

Although it isn’t on the degree of my earlier earnings, we’re nonetheless a younger firm. Success is totally completely different now. It’s not about productiveness or output. It’s about influence. If one individual pauses due to my work — in the event that they really feel one thing, keep in mind one thing — that is sufficient.