23 Feb 2017

That Next Chapter

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( ^^ this is me September, 2013 on my very first day!)

This post almost looks like it was written by a different person doesn’t it?

I just read this over because I thought it would provide me with a foundation to write what I’m about to write next, but it didn’t actually do me any good because how I feel when writing this is much different than how I felt back in that moment. Very recently, I wrote on Yow Yow! about a life change I recently went through and nearly one month later, I’m finally ready to talk about it. I’ve actually written similar sentiments in two different places – a letter to my colleagues and in a Facebook post. The bonus part of this though is that I don’t have to get HR’s approval on this. 😉

After nearly 3.5 years, I finally made the decision to leave the company that I relocated to the Bay Area for. I was relatively private on Yow Yow! about where I worked, but it’s honestly not too challenging to figure it out. By no means was this an easy decision for me and it’s not exactly the way I had wanted to leave, but I was thinking about this today… it’s a breakup. And what do they say about most breakups? They probably should have happened a month or two ago before the breakup actually happened.

When I look back on my experience and time there, I am so grateful. I truly believed that I learned from the very best and in those 3.5 years, I grew more than I could have ever imagined. I still remember accepting that offer back in Seattle and having that “THIS IS IT” moment where it set in that I was leaving my home in Seattle and relocating to an area where I had one acquaintance – I had one Mandi – and she pretty much became my best friend. My colleagues quickly became my family and weekend after weekend, I spent all of my time with them. I loved to work. I loved to work more than I loved to write on Yow Yow! and I put everything into my job. I could make a scrapbook of photos that I have collected during my time there and while it was hard to leave – one thing that has brought me peace is knowing that at some point – we all will leave. This wasn’t even my first time leaving a job, but because I had been there for so long (my longest employer relationship!) it felt like it was the first time I was experiencing this.

So where do we go from here? I’ve left my job, yes. But I’m not without a place to go to and I wanted to wait until that was solidified before I wrote this. FAQ: I am not moving back to Seattle. What kind of girl would I be if I left home for one job and then came back after it was over? That’s not who I am. The process leading up to what got me to this decision and what came afterwards was a journey for me – lot of highs and many lows so we’re going to turn this into a mini series for the next couple of weeks while I have the time off and while everything is still fresh in my head. I learned a lot in just the past month from interviewing that I hope will be helpful to others, but also it’s nice to keep it all together on Yow Yow! to someday look back on. We’ve all been through a lot together.