Perspective
I'm going to break my no-work-stuff rule this time for obvious reasons. Yet I'll try to keep things generic enough to be mildly entertaining. If you actually want details, ping me on the side and I'll fill you in.
After a number of years, I chose to leave my current employer this week. It was one of the hardest decisions of my life, and one that never got easier by following traditional weigh-the-facts type discussions. You see, I had a good gig going there. I had friends, respect, a good assignment, and great upward mobility. Some people thought I was crazy to leave. Maybe I was. And yet, there was something in me that said I should look beyond my comfort zone, consider a bigger picture, and take a leap of faith. I can say for sure that there were multiple times in the last couple weeks where I wondered if I was leaping right into a brick wall of some sort, though. To boil it down, I guess it all comes down to a simple word: "perspective."
I've wanted to change what I was doing for some time now. Not because I had some crummy job, or because my manager was a jerk (he wasn't). I simply wanted to experience more of what was out there in life. Whether that was with my current employer or not wasn't really a part of that equation for me at the time. A few months ago, a chance to have that change kind of fell into my lap, and now here I am today.
I've been taught in my life that when the really hard decisions come along, that after careful prayer, pondering, and study, that the decision should be "there" somewhere in front my my face and that once that decision is made, I was supposed to feel good about it and move on, reveling in having followed "the recipe." This lesson taught me it doesn't always work that way. In fact, I think I felt crummier after making my decision than I did before. But it wasn't the kind of crummy that really had me questioning my choice in any major way. Rather, it was the kind of crummy that I knew I was going to have to do some things that would be very hard. I'm not the type who likes to let people down. Sometimes that's a real fault. I'm always very accommodating, and I didn't want that to change now. Having to look at the leaders I respect in the eye and tell them I was leaving was hard. But on the upside I finished a major project that made a real difference, and I wasn't exactly leaving things undone.
After a number of years, I chose to leave my current employer this week. It was one of the hardest decisions of my life, and one that never got easier by following traditional weigh-the-facts type discussions. You see, I had a good gig going there. I had friends, respect, a good assignment, and great upward mobility. Some people thought I was crazy to leave. Maybe I was. And yet, there was something in me that said I should look beyond my comfort zone, consider a bigger picture, and take a leap of faith. I can say for sure that there were multiple times in the last couple weeks where I wondered if I was leaping right into a brick wall of some sort, though. To boil it down, I guess it all comes down to a simple word: "perspective."
I've wanted to change what I was doing for some time now. Not because I had some crummy job, or because my manager was a jerk (he wasn't). I simply wanted to experience more of what was out there in life. Whether that was with my current employer or not wasn't really a part of that equation for me at the time. A few months ago, a chance to have that change kind of fell into my lap, and now here I am today.
I've been taught in my life that when the really hard decisions come along, that after careful prayer, pondering, and study, that the decision should be "there" somewhere in front my my face and that once that decision is made, I was supposed to feel good about it and move on, reveling in having followed "the recipe." This lesson taught me it doesn't always work that way. In fact, I think I felt crummier after making my decision than I did before. But it wasn't the kind of crummy that really had me questioning my choice in any major way. Rather, it was the kind of crummy that I knew I was going to have to do some things that would be very hard. I'm not the type who likes to let people down. Sometimes that's a real fault. I'm always very accommodating, and I didn't want that to change now. Having to look at the leaders I respect in the eye and tell them I was leaving was hard. But on the upside I finished a major project that made a real difference, and I wasn't exactly leaving things undone.
Leaving this job has taught me lots about leadership, about choices, and about what's most important in life. Sometimes, leaving the "sure thing" for something unknown around the next corner can be very scary. But I'm sure it will be rewarding, too. Besdies, I'm not really leaving anything that's truly important to me. I still have the same friends, though we won't interact as often. I'm even taking most of my mentors with me, which I thought was pretty amazing! (Makes it sound like they all squished into a little shoebox, eh?!) The biggest lesson of all in this whole charade, though, has been that the Lord has everything under control, and that if we simply have the courage to follow and do as we should, everything will work out in the end. That's no promise for what will happen around the next corner, just what will happen in the end. I guess we all learn that a little more each day.
Perspective.
Perspective.
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