Time to quit

Yvonne Telford - 4 Apr 16

“There comes a time when you ought to start doing what you want. Take a job that you love. You will jump out of bed in the morning. I think you are out of your mind if you keep taking jobs that you don’t like because you think it will look good on your resume. Isn’t that a little like saving up sex for your old age?” – Warren Buffet

A day or two before the Easter break, I quit my job. I am so glad I did.

Before I had this job, I was a stay-at-home mum. The job came when I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do  since my kids were now in full-time education. In addition, my confidence was low, I was frustrated with life and I was bored…very bored indeed. I just sick and tired of being just a mummy. I wanted more. I wanted to start earning my own money even though my husband John always reassured me that the money in our bank account is ours. I wanted to be able to drop my daughters off at school and go and do my thing, find new challenges, and meet new people. I didn’t want my world to be confined mummy role. I wanted my world to be big again.

I also wanted my daughters to see me work – it was important that they understood that women do have choices. And that a woman can have an amazing career and be financially independent – all they knew was that I stayed home and papa went to work, Papa was clever and Papa provided everything for us. This sort of bothered me but not as much as wanting to feel good about myself again. And at the beginning, my job made me feel good, it made me feel alive, it made me feel like Yvonne…then it stopped.

And at the beginning, my job made me feel good, it made me feel alive, it made me feel like Yvonne…then it stopped.

I stopped loving my job, it started making me feel crap instead; I felt insignificant. The job was beginning to eat at my confidence which I had worked so hard at. I was beginning to complain about my job to my husband John. Deep in me, I knew I deserved more and could do better with my life. My job was now crumbs. It was not my calling.

So when I moaned to my wise friend Lara, she said, “You are in your 40s, you can’t go into your 50s doing something you don’t love. That was the statement that did it for me – I knew I had to pack it in. I don’t know how many more years I have left on planet Earth. I don’t want to spend it in a job or be in a relationship or even spend my precious time with people that make me doubt myself.

I don’t know about you or your circumstances but if a friendship, a job, a relationship is making you feel how I felt, you know what to do. What I know is you can’t fulfill your destiny if you remain in an unhappy place. As Pastor Joel Osteen said, “You are going to miss your destiny if you don’t make some hard choices.” Quitting that job was my hard choice. I now know that I can go ahead and do what I have always wanted to do.

May I just make a point – I was (and still am) in the fortunate position to be able to make the decision to leave – not all of us are. But even with the knowledge of my privilege, I was still afraid to quit the job and follow my path. Fear of not failing was holding me back.

I want to share with you two quotes that helped me in making my mind up.

“Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do.” – Steve Jobs

“You can only become truly accomplished at something you love. Don’t make money your goal. Instead pursue the things you love doing and then do them so well that people can’t take their eyes off of you.” – Maya Angelou

Yvonne xx

Yvonne Telford

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