On Quitting Work
Today was my last day of work as an operator at ePerformax. I had breakfast with my shiftmates, and we took pictures, and my supervisor gave me a card that most of my friends signed, and now I'm really sad, because I really loved working there, and I'll miss the friends I've made there, but I had to give it up.
Backstory: I was planning which subjects to take for my 2nd semester this year (which starts this Friday) and comparing them against my course syllabus and ticking off subjects I've taken vs. subjects that I have to take to meet their pre-requisites... and I realize that I could finish graduate from my course, BS Geography, if I overload at least 1 semester!
However, this meant that I would have to give up either work or sleeping, since even if I schedule everything perfectly to ensure that there's no conflict between my classes and my work, there's still certain immovable obstacles to my perfect happiness - such as the fact that traveling between my classes UP Diliman and my office in Makati takes 1 hour and a half, minimum. And that even though I would probably be able to find friends and family kind enough to let me shower/crash at their pads near either location, I still need at least 7 hour's uninterrupted sleep at least twice a week to maintain my sanity, and 3 hours of sleep minimum per day. I would not be able to achieve that with any configuration of classes/work, so after much discussion with my family, friends, and my colleagues and superiors at work, I decided to file my resignation.
Strangely enough, I started working (or, to be technical about it, training for my previous position) roughly 1 year ago - while I was enrolling for my classes for the 2nd sem... It's nice how it bookends everything.
I loved working at IP - it paid well, it was sufficiently challenging enough without being too hard or too much of an insult to my abilities, I could read all the books I liked in between calls, and I had great co-workers who taught me a lot about the important stuff, as well as gave me tips on work too. It was my first real job - my first grownup thing, and the most drastic thing I've ever done on my own, without consulting my family. And while it's given me a lot more financial freedom, it ate up what I previously thought was an inexhaustible resource - my free time. And now I've given up something that I really loved, to do, ultimately, The Right Thing (TM).
So now I'm going back to the scary world of depending on my parents for allowances, late night cable shows, and having absolutely nothing to do most weeknights. Sigh. I'm bracing for impact. My life will be drastically different again for the next year... and in roughly a year's time, I'll have to make yet another tough decision.
It scares me.
Backstory: I was planning which subjects to take for my 2nd semester this year (which starts this Friday) and comparing them against my course syllabus and ticking off subjects I've taken vs. subjects that I have to take to meet their pre-requisites... and I realize that I could finish graduate from my course, BS Geography, if I overload at least 1 semester!
However, this meant that I would have to give up either work or sleeping, since even if I schedule everything perfectly to ensure that there's no conflict between my classes and my work, there's still certain immovable obstacles to my perfect happiness - such as the fact that traveling between my classes UP Diliman and my office in Makati takes 1 hour and a half, minimum. And that even though I would probably be able to find friends and family kind enough to let me shower/crash at their pads near either location, I still need at least 7 hour's uninterrupted sleep at least twice a week to maintain my sanity, and 3 hours of sleep minimum per day. I would not be able to achieve that with any configuration of classes/work, so after much discussion with my family, friends, and my colleagues and superiors at work, I decided to file my resignation.
Strangely enough, I started working (or, to be technical about it, training for my previous position) roughly 1 year ago - while I was enrolling for my classes for the 2nd sem... It's nice how it bookends everything.
I loved working at IP - it paid well, it was sufficiently challenging enough without being too hard or too much of an insult to my abilities, I could read all the books I liked in between calls, and I had great co-workers who taught me a lot about the important stuff, as well as gave me tips on work too. It was my first real job - my first grownup thing, and the most drastic thing I've ever done on my own, without consulting my family. And while it's given me a lot more financial freedom, it ate up what I previously thought was an inexhaustible resource - my free time. And now I've given up something that I really loved, to do, ultimately, The Right Thing (TM).
So now I'm going back to the scary world of depending on my parents for allowances, late night cable shows, and having absolutely nothing to do most weeknights. Sigh. I'm bracing for impact. My life will be drastically different again for the next year... and in roughly a year's time, I'll have to make yet another tough decision.
It scares me.