Quite a day

I quit my job today.

Well, let me rephrase. I quit one of my jobs.

I had been working for our IT department. It once was a good job. But it hasn't been good for a while. Part of my grousing lately has been regarding that and wondering what I am going to do with my life.

McKormick left a comment that struck me as true, and blunt. You need to commit to your own measure of success and stick there. Decide what is a successful life to you and fuck the rest.

Exactly.

I think that much of this angst for me has to do with status and that anxiety that accompanies it. When I think about walking away from this job, my biggest fear lately has been how other people would take me walking away from a decent paying job to be adjunct--make less money, and have no real title--or office. All around me I see people gripped with that anxiety--some who take their job so seriously that it defines them, and others who have a fine life but see themselves as having no status in life.

That is a tough way to live, and one that I am battling. I don't want my life to be defined by the job title, or the amount of money I earned, or whatever. I would like it to be measured by making a difference in other's lives--of being a good friend and participant, of being thoughtful and considerate.

And you know what? My friends and family have been so good about this. My mother encouraged me to seek a job that fit me better. My friends have all been so helpful. Kind of suggests that I am on to something. Thanks to all of you. And thanks to all the bloggers who, though I may not recognize you on the street, I know are friends.

Anyway. If this doesn't work out, I will always have McKormick to blame. :)