The month I quit, three people in my family stopped speaking to me. My father called it irresponsibility. My older sister said I was wasting a "good position." A colleague told me I would be back in six months with my tail between my legs.
I had been at that company for five years. I was good at the job. But I was also dying slowly inside every Monday morning.
The first eight months after I quit were genuinely hard. I lived off savings. I took jobs I was overqualified for to pay bills. I had nights where I second-guessed everything.
But I kept building. Quietly. Without announcing anything until I had something real to show.
Month fourteen I signed my first major contract — worth more than six months of my old salary. Month eighteen I was officially profitable.
I am not telling you to quit your job. The privilege of being able to quit requires savings, skills, and a tolerance for uncertainty that not everyone has — and that's okay.
I am telling you: if you have those things, and you have a plan, and you are slowly dying where you are — the risk of staying may be higher than the risk of leaving.
Calculate carefully. Then be brave.
I had been at that company for five years. I was good at the job. But I was also dying slowly inside every Monday morning.
The first eight months after I quit were genuinely hard. I lived off savings. I took jobs I was overqualified for to pay bills. I had nights where I second-guessed everything.
But I kept building. Quietly. Without announcing anything until I had something real to show.
Month fourteen I signed my first major contract — worth more than six months of my old salary. Month eighteen I was officially profitable.
I am not telling you to quit your job. The privilege of being able to quit requires savings, skills, and a tolerance for uncertainty that not everyone has — and that's okay.
I am telling you: if you have those things, and you have a plan, and you are slowly dying where you are — the risk of staying may be higher than the risk of leaving.
Calculate carefully. Then be brave.
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