03 Jul It’s ok to resign from a “dream job”!
Maybe you were surprised to read that it’s ok to resign from a dream job” because you don’t feel like it’s ok at all or maybe because you were waiting a long time to find someone telling you that. Unfortunately, I experience that resignation is still often a very Tahoe topic in our modern society. And this, especially when it comes to resigning from a so to say “dream job” with a high position and high salary without a ready-made plan B. Due to the fact that resignation is such a Tahoe and not done when it’s “just because you don’t feel comfortable in the job”, lots of young and older people stay in difficult or even toxic work situations way longer than they should in order not to experience lasting mental health-related struggles.
Resignation from a job is often not a funny story, especially when you don’t have a well established “what to do next plan”. But sometimes it’s necessary in order not to encounter sufferance at work any longer. So, you may now have the impression that you are back at the “starting square” of the game again. Happily, this is certainly not the case. Therefore, this article aims to highlight how resignation can be a great springboard to a happier and successful career!
In some situations, it can happen that you are forced to resign from a job while you didn’t expect to. Many reasons can contribute to your decision. If you resign without a new project in mind, most of the time it has to make with the fact that you don’t feel so well anymore doing that job, in that company or surrounded by those colleagues, supervised by that manager.
Resignation from a dream job is OK
When you resign from a job it means that you have good reasons to do so. Feeling guilty can happen when talking to friends and family. Sometimes you can experience negative ruminating spirals. By example: you can start to put that decision into question again and again. Some questions asked by your relatives can happen to have what I call “a killing effect” on you: “it was such a nice company, why did you quit?”, “You had such a good salary, what’s wrong with you?” and so on. Sometimes it can also happen to be complicated to explain exactly what made you quit the job as violence at work is an accumulation of situations that don’t look very serious when taken apart from each other.
You made that choice and you were right to do so. It was a difficult decision, the moment after it isn’t easy neither but all of this is ok. Don’t start to blame yourself. Moreover, you could look at the opportunities this situation is going to offer you: thinking about your career, about your way to live your life, taking a bit of time for yourself. Furthermore, this is a great opportunity to get to know yourself better and this will help you not to fall in the same traps again and again.
As it’s your decision for you, it’s certainly a good one
Feeling bad about that episode right now is completely ok too. Besides, resignation is hard as work is a very important part of your life quality, security and also part of your identity. Actually, for some persons, losing their job can be paired with the loss of a piece of their identity. And, this can be very painful. You need to take the time to acknowledge and accept that loss to be able to reengage yourself in a new pathway in a harmonious way.
The reasons why you resigned from a dream job
Many reasons can push you to quit your job: the job didn’t meet your expectations, you experienced a difficult or traumatic situation at work that made you feel bad at work, you experienced violence or harassment at work, you experienced a burnout, there were conflicts, promises have not been delivered, … But most of the time, when you don’t have a plan B it means that quitting became urgent and that maybe you didn’t have the energy anymore to start looking at offers for another job.
I am sure that you thought probably more than enough about it. To help you accept that it was the right thing to do, you could make this simple exercise:
Write down the reasons that made you quit the job on a paper. Try to note them as facts and the associate a feeling you had to those facts. Write about the effects this had on you. Also, write what you tried to better the situation.
So, this exercise will serve you as a reminder of the reasons that pushed you to take that decision to resign from a dream job. Every time you feel that you start to blame yourself, go back to that paper.
Be grateful to yourself that you took the decision to resign
You took a decision for yourself and that’s great. It means that something is changing in your life. Acknowledge that change and be grateful to the new opportunity this situation is helping you to create in order to learn about yourself and what you truly want in your life. So, yes, it’s ok to resign from a dream job!
What did you learn about this experience of resigning?
You may be thinking that you are stuck now and that this was a fucked up experience that just helped you feel bad. And even if you feel quite bad now, I would like you to take time to ask yourself:
What did you learn about this experience? What did you learn about yourself? What did you learn about the job you would like to do in the future? What are things you don’t want ever to happen? Which skills did you develop or do you need to develop even more in order to feel good in your work environment?
Do you feel you could get even more support in this period? Wanna have someone to talk about with? Then, maybe I could be that person. Don’t hesitate to contact me via this page.