So I haven't written a lot of personal content and my hope is this may strike home for those of you either changing jobs or just making big changes this new year.
Show me the money
It all started after piling up some debt back in August 2017. This made me start taking a magnifying glass to my personal finances...
- Medical bills [ √ ]
- Credit card debt from moving expenses [ √ ]
- Car loan [ √ ]
- Sick cat vet bills... [ √ ]
I had a chunk of savings socked away for when I decide to get out of renting and back into home ownership and a stockpile of crypto investments but I'm the kind of saver/investor who will not touch those reserves until they can be taken for the purpose they were placed there for. I've been lucky enough up to this point to avoid any interest and some clever changes in my HR system enrollment to my tax enrollment netted me a few hundred per month. Regardless the die had been cast so to speak. During my look back I reviewed my worth in the market in case circumstances changed where I need to get another job and it began to unfold how underpaid I had been. Also I began speaking with my coworkers and this realization must have been sneaking around the business for a little over a year now as our salary increases had been put on hiatus for 2017. Up until this point I had no issue with the amount of pay and I live a reasonably comfortable life most of the time. I guess because of that last point the conversation and job searching went to the back burner.
Kismet
Looking back from now, the last six months was made up of just horrible decisions by the business and honestly by myself. If I had taken a more active ownership over my career and analyzed my comfort with my pay, my personal growth and the respect give to me from the company I may have left earlier.
Despite all this I didn't, but in December I ended up getting an offer I could not refuse. When I had my talks with this company I knew all the right questions to ask... I was interviewing them not so much the other way around. They fit the bill literally and figuratively. I also may not have realized previously how stagnant my former role had become. I was doing a lot of work on a whim to entertain and educate myself. I had not been challenged by the company for over a year. I came to this realization when I became excited by the prospect of the project and team I would be working with. I knew then, in my gut, that this was the right decision. I signed the agreements and put my notice in as soon as I came back from holiday at the beginning of January. I will be on boarding soon and am actively off boarding now with who will become my previous employer. I have a lot of good memories and worked with a lot of great people but ultimately this is my story and journey to take and it was time to move on.
I hope for you, my readers, that if you have any teasing thoughts that things are not right you take a more active role in your own life. Make active change to improve whatever it is that you are not 1000% comfortable with. You are most definitely worthy of your best life.
I wish you all a great 2018! Thanks for reading and if you have a story to share about big changes you are making this year please feel free to share your reply or link in the comments below.
Image source: pexels.com
Cheers, Willsling