#215: Resign from job / Change jobs

While one of the big items on my list was to change jobs (meaning employer), it hasn't been something that I've been actively pursuing. On the contrary, after my break up my first priority was in fact to make sure that I kept my job and didn't get fired! Having been through three restructures in the last 16 months, the fact that my role changed last year and I was promoted (#127) was enough to satisfy any potential career restlessness I might have harboured. 

It's funny how life works out, however, because just as I was getting back into the swing of things at work (see item #200: Re-engage at work), I was contacted by a recruiter about an exciting new opportunity at a competitor. To make a long story short, I was presented with an offer I just couldn't refuse and so after much deliberation I resigned from my current job last week. After working at the company for 5 years, the idea of a new challenge as well as getting a fresh start on a new life was too appealing a prospect to pass up. 

Quitting my job is something that I could not have done a few months ago, let alone a year ago when I started my list. To uproot my life, habits and work friends for the unknown was not something that I was strong enough to handle. Today, however, I feel different. I feel excited about the change and new possibilities in a way that I haven't for a long time. Starting something new is now exciting, not daunting. 

Grabbing the bull by the horns

I feel incredibly empowered, bold even. I am both scared and sad to leave, but in my heart I know it's the right thing for me to do. The last few years I haven't felt in control of many key aspects of my life: the break up was not my doing and the restructures at work were out of my control as well. Taking active charge of what it is that I need and want is something I too frequently haven't done...and I don't know why. Perhaps it was just laziness, or perhaps it was just middle-aged acquiesce. Regardless, it feels good to grab the bull by the horns again, even if I'm also slightly terrified I've made a terrible mistake. 

I'm nervous about what's to come but also incredibly excited. As an added bonus, I'm going to be spending the next 3 months on what the British call 'gardening leave'. This means that I will be serving out my 3 month notice period 'working' from home (in my garden, hence the term gardening leave)! With everything I've been through I feel incredibly lucky. I hope to use the time to cross off more items on the List and to reflect about what it is I'm looking for as I head into this next new phase of life. 

It is a luxury I've never dreamed of. I almost don't know what I'm going to do with myself. But I know how it's going to start: checking off more things on my List on a long-planned 10-day holiday in Thailand that starts tomorrow 

And so does the rest of my life... 

Photos: alexskopje, Scott Maxwell / LuMaxArt, PhotoSGH : Shutterstock