I Quit My Job Without a Plan (and Survived)
Yes, I did the unthinkable: I quit my 1st big girl job without a plan. Everything turned out great. Here’s my story…
The year was 2020 and I was graduating from the illustrious Florida A&M University with a full-time job offer, minimal debt, and great optimism for the future. I was prepared to leave the south and move off to the midwest to start my fancy corporate job. I had accomplished what every business student dreams of — or so I thought.
Here's a photo of me being a glamorous graduate.
Life is not always peaches and creams. I learned this very quick. Moving across states (let alone regions) was a shit show. The midwest is very different from the south, with its lack of diversity but abundance of farm land (no offense to any midwestern readers). To make matters worst, there was a raging pandemic occurring and social unrest. I was surrounded by mass hysteria as the frightening yet mysterious (at the time) COVID-19 virus plagued our nation. I was also traumatized by violence against Black Americans like myself, as publicized in every media outlet. The cherry on top of this ice cream from hell was the fact that I hated my new job.
Let me repeat: I hated my new job. Emphasis on the hate. The other employees were nice…enough..but I couldn’t relate to them. The work was boring and complicated. I am always up for a challenge, but not a boring challenge. That’s like…torturing me to sleep. On the weekends I had three options: drink, protest, or spiral into news-induced anxiety attacks. It was certainly one of the most challenging seasons of my life.
Around a year after starting my new role, I couldn’t take it any more. I took a leave of absence for about a month to find peace and deal with my growing mental health issues. That’s perhaps the worst part of a job you don’t enjoy: it makes life unenjoyable. During this time, I shared my sentiments with my loved ones, but gained responses like “It is a good paying job. Just stick it out.” “No one likes their job.” “You’ll regret leaving that place.” These responses sucked butt.
This leads me to my first lesson: your loved ones prioritize your sustainability over your growth. They want you to be OK. Alive and well. It’s understandable. Almost admirable, if it didn’t require misery. Nevertheless, I always suggest that when loved ones give advice, you ponder whether it’s them trying to help you thrive or just remain comfortable. You should wonder if said advice is rooted in their own fears and natural instincts. What’s best for them may not be best for you.
The graph above details how a wild amount of people are quitting their jobs because why not?
Anyways, I returned from my leave of absence feeling refreshed and assuming that work would be OK now. I was wrong. Mistaken! Work still sucked the life out of me. Every day I meditated, journaled, prayed, and begged for God to release me from this situation. One day he did (he was probably like, “Damn girl! Ok!”).
About 1.5 years into the job, I heard a voice early one morning saying that unspeakable word, “Quit.” Quit!? A voice in my head was telling me to quit…so I did. I got on a call with my boss and told sis, “I quit. I have to go — immediately.” Within a week or so, I was freed from the burdens of a job I didn’t enjoy BUT I was now unemployed. Broke. What’s odd though, is that during this time, money flowed to me. Folks from college contacted me for freelance marketing and communications services. My artistic entrepreneurial ventures began to pick up. I may or may not have used my pole dancing skills when things got the toughest — I am not ashamed. I am a hustler.
During this time, I applied to 7 jobs each day and wrote out “I am a social media marketer” on a sticky note, as this was my dream job. About a month into my unemployment, I interviewed for and landed (you guessed it) a social media marketing role. It wasn’t just any role though — I landed a role at one of the top marketing and advertising agencies in the world. I received a pay increase and was finally able to return to the south. The work I do is enjoyable, creative, and impactful. The people I work with are personable and kind, above all. Better yet, the work is remote so I get to travel and pursue my passion projects while making a bag.
We ask the universe to free us from pain and in return, she asks for trust. When I heard the call, I had to believe that I was not going to fall flat on my face (or ass, whatever the saying is). I didn’t. Instead, I was blessed in abundance and in divine timing.
I am not advocating for you to up and quit your job — its not rationale. Yet, I am not a rationale person. I am a spiritual one. It’s worked out okay for me so far.