By Rowdy Teaff, News Editor
Sometimes life goes unexpectedly awry, so when that happens you have to pivot and trust the process. Life can change in an instant. A simple phone call can be the thing that completely changes the course for your next six months. This course is not a straight path but one that you were meant to travel.
Recently, I’ve had to pivot. I had a job that was working well for me, it paid decently and I enjoyed it. Once I got a promotion, things instantly changed. Drama became a part of the workplace in a matter of one week, and I decided to quit.
This decision wasn’t something that came easy to me. I couldn’t eat or sleep until I came to the decision to be done working there. Ethos is something that is very important to me, and the culture of this company was not something that I wanted to continue to be a part of.
The sign that let me know that I needed to be done stressing over this is when two people, who did not know me very well, told me the exact thing within an hour: “I’ve been there before. Leave now, it doesn’t get better.” God has a funny way of putting people, places, things, signs or phrases in your line of sight to reveal what path you need to take. As I was fretting over job security, what the next few weeks and months would look like and how I was going to get through it, the answer was simple — just quit.
Quitting isn’t something I make a habit of doing. I don’t like being a quitter, but sometimes that is the only thing to do. I strive to have virtue in my life. I want my words to mean something when I say them, rather than just being empty phrases. In weighing the pros and cons of giving up some security, I had to trust my instinct and walk away from everything. Being able to call my manager and tell her that I was done — despite her being unhappy about the decision —made the weight of the world fall off my shoulders. The tension, anxiety and tightness in my chest was all gone. I knew I had done the right thing. That made everything that much better for me.
Just because life seems like it has a plan to it doesn’t mean that you have to follow it exactly. Paths cross, wind, stop and start all of the time. Sometimes you have to pivot, trust the process and trust that God is in control of your life.
This holiday season is stressful. As I watched the mall fill up with people racing to find “the biggest deals of the year” on Black Friday weekend, I realized that we move too fast. Life already moves quickly, so why should we speed it up anymore? Sometimes the best thing you can do is sleep in, enjoy the rest and curl up on the couch watching Christmas movies with a loved one. Enjoy the little things and make memories while you can. Life is going to continue to race, so just slow things down for a bit, and choose to grow and love every aspect of your life. It goes too fast to get caught up in fickle things.