Lessons From The Greenhouse

I spent most of my career searching for appreciation and it wasn't easily found. It seemed that nothing I did was ever enough - a client always wanted to see another option or to make some "tweaks", a contractor wanted more information. Before even making it to the client presentation, there were rigorous rounds of revisions, and someone on the team always wanted something more, something better. Most of the time, I felt unappreciated. I thought if I worked harder, if I learned more and produced faster and the quality of my work was better that this would change. I thought there was a benchmark somewhere for "enough" and that when I hit that benchmark I would finally be appreciated.  Not just my work, but me. It led me to believe that I had to be perfect. That everything I did had to be right the first time. I didn't allow myself to make mistakes, and when I made mistakes I was incredibly hard on myself. Every time someone asked for more or for something dif...

For some reason, part of me was nervous to tell people that I was leaving architecture. And when I started working at a garden center, it was weird to see former colleagues and AEC professionals and tell them what I was doing. But the majority of the response has been incredibly positive, coated in support and sometimes a hint of envy. Over the last 18 months I've fielded the same few questions more times than I can count, so I'm sharing those here today. Q: Why did I leave architecture? A: The funny thing about this question is that it's usually people unrelated to the industry who ask. Any time I talk to architects, interior designers, engineers, contractors, etc.they just seem to get it. The long, detailed answer to this question is complicated and will likely unfold itself over time in my writings. The short answer - I was chronically stressed and frustrated and the practice of architecture often made me very unhappy. I didn't like the lifestyle of being an architec...