Last week, I quit my job. It was a scary move, but a necessary one. That place had been making me miserable for far too long, and I am determined to be happy again, and I knew this was a critical step. I thought that I would feel good as soon as I delivered my notice, but it took until today for it to really sink in. I am free. I can begin to decompress now.

In my last few days at the office (they paid me out and let me leave early) I received copious amounts of validation that I’d made the right choice, and that as a colleague, I was valued. At least four or five people from around the office, whom I don’t usually exchange more than pleasantries with, approached me to say that they could see that I haven’t been treated very well, that I was being excluded from my team, and that they supported me in my decision to leave. Several more people told me how much they were going to miss me. A couple of them even cried. Some of them hugged me. These are people I’ve worked with for four and a half years; they have been my weekday family, and I’m going to miss (most of) them.

I have a new job lined up, though I’m still finalizing the paperwork so I’ve been quiet about it. Somebody’s always out of the office so it’s taking longer than I’d like- you know how it goes. In this new position, I’ll be going back to work I did about five years ago. Although it might seem like I’m moving backwards, I’m really not. This was the field I’d always wanted to advance myself in, I only ended up taking a detour due to my company’s progression plan and some departmental reorganizations that had happened over the last few years.

Now I am going to get back to doing work that I enjoy. I get to work in a joint venture capacity that allows me to pull together different aspects of the business instead of seeing how much paper I can push during any given day. This job is far less focused on the ability to follow rules & regulations and more so on analytical abilities. I am looking forward to playing to my strengths again. I will have some challenges, but I look at them as growth opportunities. Building on my strengths and accepting my weaknesses.

In addition to a new start on happiness, this job also brings me a significant enough salary increase. Who’s complaining? That extra money will go a long way towards paying off some debt and helping to maintain my higher cost of living in my new townhouse.

Making this jump in my career knocks two goals off of my 2013 list, and aids in accomplishing several more. Now, I can spend the next couple weeks of unemployment relaxing, decompressing, and getting ready for a new phase of my life.