This is NOT a test. This actually happened today.

Most people will agree that it’s usually better to quit a job once you already have another job secured. And while I’m typically among those who advise in favor of this position, I recently found myself on the other side of aisle.

You might remember the last time I wrote a letter to my employer, a few years back, to express my discontentment and resignation, although this time around my unhappiness was not as severe. In my last job, I felt a gross hyprocrisy from the organization’s mission that seemed to apply more to the patrons of the entity rather than the servants of said entity. Years later, having close friends and family still employed there, my thoughts on the organization have not changed. And unfortunately, neither have the sentiments in regards to the state of my happiness.

As I disclosed to my employer, I had been unhappy for quite some time, but because I loved working for such a great company, I remained. For me, everything in life needs balance. And while I was less than thrilled to work a job that I didn’t particularly care for, I did enjoy being among people with great values and work ethic. I still believe in the organization’s work model of “an environment that has a positive effect on the community” and the overall mission to “do well, do good, do right” both inside and outside the company walls.

Many of my cohorts, including my boss, expressed that they presumed I’d be leaving the company since acquiring my Masters degree last year. I, too, understood this was not my forever job, although it was a place I had hoped to grow with for a while longer. Simultaneously, I’ve been diligent to my blog and other projects, in hopes that this would be the last job I would work for anyone. My goal is to be a full-time creative and entrepreneur who generates enough income to sustain the lifestyle that I want to live. Thus, I’ve come to realize that I won’t be truly happy working any job, for anyone, for too long. And life’s too short to be unhappy.

I’m not sure whether to consider it a flaw or a forte that my heart has never allowed me to remain in a relationship where I felt a disconnect. Regardless, I’m absolutely certain that this decision would have come eventually. Am I scared? Absolutely. Aside from quitting my job without having another job, we’re in a global pandemic thanks to a little virus called Covid. But more than that, I think I was more afraid of what would happen or who I would become if I didn’t quit.

I’ll still never advise anyone to quit their job, but I certainly understand why people do it. Sometimes we need that push. And sometimes, we have to jump off the edge of a cliff with no safety net. Like I said to my my boss in my resignation letter, “This may be the end of the road for us but it’s a new beginning for me. And after all, isn’t this how all great success stories begin?  You know the kind where a person reluctantly walks away from a good thing, in search of something greater & years later becomes wildly successful… Yeah, that’s what this is.”

Until then…

-TheRealBlackCarrieBradshaw