Tomorrow l start my new job and decided to finally but down those words long stuck in my mind. I left my first full-time job after 7 years. A job I honestly didn’t expect to stay as long as I did but I believe I got lucky.
I took a chance with that company, they could only offer me a month contract to support one of the marketers with a new product range launch. Here we are, 7 years later and what an adventure it became.
Taking the decision to leave a company after so many years is as hard as leaving a long-term relationship that doesn’t feel right anymore. Your gut tells you that it’s time to move on, but because of the history you try to convince yourself that you need to put more effort that it’s just a momentary feeling. Then something happens and you realize that what you feel is fear of leaving your comfort zone and what used to be. That’s when you realize you don’t belong anymore, you feel disconnected with the values you onces shared and it’s time. At least that’s how it felt for me.
Still with all that I kept rethinking if it was the right decision. So when the opportunity came to go to New York for a week, I took it. And as mentioned in my New York post it was just what I needed. Clarity. After the trip, I thought, might as well rip the band-aid because the last thing I wanted was to let my frustration grow and let it transform into anger and bitterness. I wanted to leave peacefully but most of all with happy memories of a place I enjoyed working at, sorry loved working at.
When I handed in my resignation, I felt such a relieve. A weight has lifted out my shoulder and that’s when I knew. This was the right decision. A hard one but a right one. Everything started flowing from that point. Things in my personal life started getting fixed, my mood came back to normal and my mind wasn’t clouded anymore. I also started feeling more confident about myself, which means I could better portray myself at interviews. Law of attraction I guess.
I still think about my old job. Actually, not the job itself but the people. The people made it hard to leave. I wish on everybody to find an environment where the people are as amazing as the people I got the chance to meet in the past 7 years. To develop amazing friendships like I did, a team that actually supports, works together with whom you create a genuine bound. I’m grateful for the incredible managers I got and mentors that trusted me, believed in me and helped me grow but more importantly accepted who I was at all times. They say it’s once in your professional lifetime.
So I suppose I managed to leave how I wanted. Peacefully and happy. I only have one last thing to say: thank you Ansell for the beautiful 7 years. I never had a dull moment!
It’s time for a new professional adventure!
with love,
Brenda
PS: I forgot to mention, thanks to Ansell I met the love of my life and that’s probably my favorite part of the past 7 years.
Life with Brenda 