You got it. This is when the confidence was at 100%. "I can get a job within 3 months," "I can learn new things in a week," "I can get a new client next month," said I. Which turned out to be a reflection of my own thinking, not reality. Classic.
What I Told Myself
There is a very specific kind of confidence that comes from not yet having tried. On Day 1 of unemployment I had it in abundance. I had a rough plan in my head, a list of things to learn, and a completely fictional timeline for how everything was going to unfold.
What I Didn't Know I Needed
The reality is there are a lot of things you need to prepare to face the outside world, especially if you are a designer. You need your portfolio, in web and PDF. You need to socialize, to network. You need to promote yourself, learn marketing, learn to tell a story, be confident in front of a camera, and much more.
The Reframe
That's when I realized: shit, I'm screwed. But I'm not giving up. "Let's do this, one step at a time," said I.
Day 1 confidence is not a bad thing. It gets you started. The problem is when you expect Day 1 confidence to last until Day 270.
The gap between what I thought I needed to do and what I actually needed to do was enormous. But I only discovered that gap by starting. If I'd known how hard it was going to be upfront, maybe I wouldn't have resigned. And that would have been worse.
So: classic. But also necessary. Day 1 confidence is the only reason any of what came after happened at all.