Not Worried, I Said!
Posted by Moose on May 14th, 2007. Filed under: My Brain Needs a Drink.Have any of you quit a job without knowing if you would have another one? Ever again?
I’ve been the associate editor of a small magazine for five years. A few months ago, I decided it was time to move on. Possibly into unemployment. Once this decision was made, I frantically started saving money because what if I leave and have no job? What if I get kicked out of the house because I’ve never paid rent and can no longer buy the groceries that masquerade as rent? I’ve been assured that I won’t be kicked out of the house if I can’t buy groceries, but what happens when we come home and there are no Nilla Wafers? WHAT THEN?
One of my primary skill sets is worrying about things before they happen. Which, as you smart people know, does nothing to solve the problem and gives me digestive problems for days.
Be proud, internet. Because this time? I have decided NOT TO WORRY. Sure, I’d have more cause to beg for the internet’s approval if I had, say, donated a kidney or offered to devote my life to bringing the word of David Sedaris to remote Russian villages. (David Sedaris is god, people. GOD.) But not worrying is a big step for me. Granted, that step would be more impressive if I hadn’t spent the four preceding months panicking, but whatever. Details. I will get another job. Either the job I already applied for, or a different job, or maybe David Sedaris will call me up and ask me to ghostwrite his next book because he’s too busy being godlike while villagers in the Russian hinterlands fan him with carefully cured yak hide.
It may be the height of stupidity to quit a job when I don’t have another one lined up. But I am constantly ascending the heights, my friends. (I AM THE SHERPA OF STUPIDITY AND I AM PROUD.) I do understand the politics of being in a stronger position to get a new job if you have a job. And I understand that my savings will carry me through approximately two jobless weeks. Less if I don’t nail “Cash Sucking Fiend” signs to the doors of both Green Apple Books and Ritual Roasters. But it’s time for me to go. My instincts have been kicking me firmly in the pancreas for months now and I feel I should heed them before my poor bruised pancreas leaps for freedom. A pancreas only has a few options for exit, none of them pleasant.
Yes, observe how serenely I am NOT WORRYING. (Does putting this in caps every single time belie my point?) To demonstrate to the world and to myself just how much I am NOT WORRYING, I decided to go to BlogHer. It hadn’t even occurred to me to attend, until my dear friend Schnozz declared that she was going and that I should really go too. Because there will be lots of this:
And if that’s not worth a plane trip and a deep dip into the shallow well of my savings account, I DON’T KNOW WHAT IS.
I’m shamelessly using BlogHer to flip the bird to my bank account and its unparalleled ability to guilt me. I feel… so free. And when I get to BlogHer I will feel… so drunk. Not to mention thrilled to be with some of my favorite people in a new city talking about something we all love to do.
Namely, demand approval from the internet.*
~~~
* Hi again! Speaking of approval and demands, if any of you have a “I quit my job without having another one officially lined up and DIDN’T have to take up residence in a refrigerator box without any Nilla Wafers” story, I would love to hear your heartwarming tale of triumph. To add to my NOT WORRYING file.
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May 14th, 2007 at 12:57 pm
I, for one, am beyond excited that you will be attending BlogHer and I, for one, love to partake in the fermented beverage, so we can and will be drunk together.
May 14th, 2007 at 1:21 pm
Oooh! An adventure. An adventure that allows you a schedule more like mine! Lets sit in the park while others work! Lets eat GOAT cheese at the beach while others work. I have about 6 apple cider beer things, I will bring those, too. It might not be sparkling pink wine…but hell, the unemployed are not picky!
May 14th, 2007 at 1:47 pm
Oh, Moose! You will be fine!
I quit my job without another job waiting for me. My job had become annoying and meaningless and my boss had become unbearable. Of course, I was making a great salary and my fiance had left his well-paying job for full-time grad school, and I got this urge to quit my job when he was only five months into a THREE-YEAR PROGRAM. Brilliant, I am!
But I decided that I wanted to freelance. No more bosses, no more billable hours, no more clients calling me at ridiculous hours. No more requesting vacation time, no more justifying when and how I wanted to spend my time. I would make it or break it on my own.
After I made my decision — but before I acted on it — I had plenty of nights when I woke up in a semi-panic, wondering how I was going to pay my bills IF this and IF that and IF, IF, IF. But each time, I talked myself down from the ledge.
That was two years ago, and I have not been without Nilla Wafers for a moment. Now my only problem is that I have realized how much control I have over my future and what I want to focus on — travel writing? personal essays? journalism pieces in glossies? nonfiction book? community journalism site? — that I’m completely overwhelmed by my options. (So if anyone can reassure ME about that one, go for it. Ahem.)
Anyway. You’ll be fine. Smart people make things happen, and you seem like one o’ them smart people.
Besides, life is too short to stay in a job you don’t want.
Congrats!
P.S. Three of my dearest friends also quit their jobs without other jobs lined up. They never regretted it.
May 14th, 2007 at 2:51 pm
Great to hear you’re coming to BlogHer!
4 years ago I quit my job as Sr. Director of Product Management for a tech company here in Silicon Valley. I did not have another job lined up. People thought I was crazy because it was during the real slump here in the valley, and I had a very senior, well-paying position. I did have nearly 2 years of take-home pay in the bank, because I always lived below my means…to make sure I had freedom. and I knew I’d be consulting with said company for about 4 months. I thought I’d try to recover my major burn-out and get another job just like the one I had, but instead I started this blogging thing (for personal and political purposes.)
I ended up starting my own consultancy (the first time I ever worked for myself in my career.) And then I met Lisa and Jory, and we started BlogHer.
It’s still a really good thing I know how to live within or lower than my means, because we’re the definition of a bootstrapping start-up. And make no mistake I work as long and hard (no, probably longer and harder) as I ever did.
But I can safely say: it was the best decision I ever made to take that leap.
So good luck, and be sure to introduce yourself at BlogHer!
May 14th, 2007 at 5:36 pm
I quit my job – had my own massage practice back in Maine – and took a month and a half to visit my dad and slowly trek my way across the US to Tucson where I had nothing but an interview with a very schmootzy spa. I had no idea whether it would work or not. I didn’t know anyone in Tucson and only one or two people in the whole state of Arizona. It was very liberating. And it all worked out. It’s been about five months and I am fine, living with a great roommate in a kickass town with a killer job and a great new life. Don’t be afraid. If we didn’t take risks we’d never get anywhere!
May 14th, 2007 at 8:24 pm
The first time…out of spite, I arranged a revenge mass quitting of employees by finding jobs for other employees and we all quit, ten of us, after the Christmas holiday. Quite a shock from the boss as she called me from the Caribbean to plead for me to return and assist her to convince others to return as well. I made a life change and moved to Colorado where I absolutely loved it…no regrets.
The second time, I was burned-out and moved to help my parents who were ill. I thought my skill set would instantly land me a job, however I was at the wrong place at the wrong time. So, I went to school for a Phd. and found a fiance. I married two weeks ago and am living happily-ever-after!
It all worked-out in the end.
May 15th, 2007 at 7:50 am
Hi, folks! Thank you kindly for sharing your stories. It seems that the world probably won’t end if I don’t get this job. I find this reassuring. I’d hate to think that I brought about the end days by failing to find employment.
May 15th, 2007 at 11:40 am
Job or no job, there will always be strawberry daiquiris in pineapple shells with little pink umbrellas. Ka-BOOM!
May 15th, 2007 at 1:54 pm
I quit my job a few years back so I could go back to school and move to Montreal. I was trying to escape the MIND NUMBING BOREDOM that was technical writing (for me). Truthfully, things really couldn’t have gone any worse for a few years there. We pretty much lived our worst case scenario, which was that Husband couldn’t find something that could support us and we lived in a slum–an ACTUAL SLUM where ppl peed in the hallways–and I had to take out a bunch of student loans and I had to take on a gruelling schedule of projects that greatly interfered with my school.
But. BUT. We’re okay. That’s my point. Even if you hit your worst case scenario like we did, it won’t last forever, so long as you construct better and best case scenarios and work towards them. Even if you’re making a huge mistake, it’ll totally be fine one way or another.
May 15th, 2007 at 2:00 pm
PS Congratulations! I can’t wait to hear about your adventures as your new life unfolds!
May 15th, 2007 at 4:35 pm
Ah, you’ll be fine! Trust me, trust me. I know these things! I moved here jobless and apartmentless (and Nilla Waferless) and it all worked out. Things do.
May 16th, 2007 at 2:47 pm
I quit my job. Moved to some town I’d never seen and didn’t know a thing about and survived! I had to get interrim coffee-serving and grocery checking jobs to pay the bills, but it only took a few months to find a job in my actual profession (and I think there are fewer hydrologist jobs in this world than editor/writey kind of jobs). Now I make more than enough money to cover the debt incurred during my marginally employed period and still buy pretty shoes.
May 17th, 2007 at 12:17 am
i JUST did this. quit my job at the beginning of april and moved up to the bay area at the beginning of may. true, i’ve got enough socked away to last me for about a year, but so far, i’m loving it TO THE EXTREME.
i’m also saying TO THE EXTREME alot. because hey, now i’ve got the time.
i’m not sure there’s a career in that, though.
May 18th, 2007 at 11:02 am
Hi, found you through Schnozz’s site.
My fiance just did this – quit his job without having another one lined up. Five months before the wedding.
We had enough money socked away to last us about 6 months before we’d have to sell bodily fluids and/or the cats.
He was unemployed for 5 weeks; five harrowing, gut-wrenching weeks filled with two crazy people who were Professional Worriers. But it all turned out fine in the end. Now he has a great job with a better boss, a better commute and better pay.