On quitting

I quit my job. I had my last day on September 25th. This was a position I had been very excited for, and it was a hard decision. Often when we make decisions that are healthy and authentic for us, it disappoints others. I'm living with the disappointment that my coworkers and supervisors had when I shared that my working there was not going well.

In the helping profession, if I am not healthy, my clients suffer. In order for me to do the best work with my clients, I have to be ok. And I was not ok in that position. In particular, I was struggling with negotiations around my schedule as a working mom. Sound familiar?

As I processed this with friends and colleagues in the mental health world, I was reminded that I am extremely efficient at my job and have no problems hustling. If I was coming up against these struggles, had tried setting boundaries, and still felt like I was swimming up-stream, it was time to go.

To be fair to my previous employer, in an agency structure it is really hard to create the flexibility a pumping parent may need. We discussed how in a different time in my life, I would have thrived there.

So, I left. And I feel free to explore being self-employed. I am currently doing a lot of work to set up my practice, exploring the world of website development and networking (yikes!) but it's fun and new.

If you're a working mom, please know that I have been in the shit, and no one really prepares you for pumping half an ounce at a time.

If you are a human being dealing with burn-out and trying to decide whether things at work will get better, I completely empathize.

Let's talk about it!