The cat's been out of the bag for almost two weeks now. I'm a quitter. And when I tell people, the first question they always come back with pertains to my plan. Specifically, they want to know where I'll be working next.
Some ask: "Did you get something better?" Some ask: "Are you staying in the industry?" Some ask: "When do you start?" The underlying assumption is that I'm going to be working for a new company. New boss, new building, new salary. The idea that someone would leave one job without having another lined up simply doesn't compute with a lot of people.
I've done this before. Since my early twenties, I've been caught up in a strange habit. I would take a job, do it for a while, then quit. I always made sure I had some money saved up before quitting, but starting a new job right after ending the last one typically wasn't my way. I would quit, live off my savings for a few months, then start over at a new job.
This method has never impressed people. In fact, it's been seen as less acceptable the older I've gotten. But I can't seem to make it work any other way. When I finally quit a job, it's usually because I've hit rock bottom there. The novelty has long worn off, the work itself has drained my mental energy and killed my creative spark, and the relationships I've built aren't powerful enough to cancel out the rest of it. I need a hard reset. I need to remember who I am.