You’ve got a great job – you actually love it – nice benefits, work with good people, but are still feeling this tug of unfulfillment. You know that it’s time for follow your calling. Enough with measuring risks or budgeting or simply second-guessing yourself. It’s time to stop following the script your parents or spouse or someone else in your family created for you. It’s time to blaze your own path!!

The security-driven side of you says not to listen to the voice that you’re not doing what you want to do, or that somebody else will take care of the situation. But, as you’ve known all along, you’re the person who listens to that voice inside of themselves.

I’ve known people who have left cushy jobs to open their own little shops, go back to school in hope of following a different career path or simply to travel the world. I also look at them and realize they are among the most content and fulfilled people I know.

Leaving what you know can be the scariest thing you’ve done in a long, long, long time. Leaving a world where you’ve established yourself as a professional and take pride in your work is tough.

Saying goodbye is tough. Gianpiero Petrigleri, an associate professor of organizational behavior at INSEAD wrote in the Harvard Business Review: “While you say your heartfelt goodbyes, remember that when you leave a beloved job, there is no need to pack light. Take all you can with you, lest you leave yourself behind.”

While you’re trying to figure out if you should leave your career, for whatever reason, consider the following:

Your History of Following Your Gut – Are you one of those people with good instincts or does everything you touch turn to mush? My guess is the former. What is the universe telling you to do? What feels right?

Expecting the Unexpected – Whether you’re considering leaving to care for an ailing parent or want to open a cupcake shop, your new life will be full of the unknown. Can you rise to the challenge without the security blanket of your corporate life?

Doing What’s Best for You – You get one chance at life and those with regrets seem the least happy in old age. Think about how you’ll feel about your decision to leave your job in 30 or 40 years. Will you look back and think it was a mistake or regardless of the outcome, will you be glad you took a different route?

Value-Added – Is what you’re planning to do next going to make the world a better place? You could knit socks, bake brownies, or coach corporate retreats – and I can make an argument you’re making the world a better place in all three instances. You’ll find that you’re going to go much farther if you feel good about what you bring to the world.

If it was easy to leave a job and live a life where you’re pursuing your calling – and your dreams – everybody would do it. Nobody was born wanting to be the Junior Vice President of Whatever for Whatever Corporation. Most of us just eventually find ourselves in a career and convince our minds it’s what we always wanted. It’s time to start being honest with yourself and start listening to that little voice inside of you that sounds like it’s begging for oxygen when it’s telling you to make a change. Always listen to that voice.