In My Absence...

I feel bad for not posting anything lately but so much has happened since I last wrote it's taken some time to digest. For starters I took a package with work which means I'm taking close to 4 months off... Not something I could have predicted a month ago but nonetheless it's something I've wanted for a very long time. I put my blood, sweat and tears into my job for the last 6 and half years and I deserve every penny I got in compensation. It's so ironic reading my previous post which was all about choices and changes. Little did I know how much everything was going to change in such a short period of time.

Work was getting increasingly difficult to go to and I was living for my days off... If that doesn't scream unhappiness I don't know what else to say. I got to a point shortly before my last week where I was praying to God for some sort of rescue... luckily to my benefit he came through - big time! I've tried to find other work in the past but I couldn't find anything I was as passionate about as BR. It's a high pedestal to go from and a comfortable one at that. Banana was always such a safe haven for me that I never really felt like I had to leave. This year alone I had 3 recruiters approach me with opportunities that I just couldn't motivate myself to get excited about. As much as being comfortable is a good thing, I also think that you can only learn so much from staying in one place and that ultimately when you stop growing you become frustrated and angry. When you've been with a company for so long, you see the highs, you see the lows, you know where you've been and you can see where you're going. I was certainly invested into all of that and am very proud of my success with the brand. However with that being said I can also say that for the last two years I've been drifting ever since I stepped down from having my own store. Due to some unfortunate events with that experience, it left a awful taste in my mouth and I no longer wanted to push my career path with the brand ever again. I guess the lesson here is: When you've done all that you want to do, the best thing is to leave. Sounds so simple doesn't it... yet I hung on hoping for something that would keep me with the company. I enjoyed working with the people, I liked working for an elevated lifestyle brand, the money was great, but at the core of it I didn't share the same values alot of the time with the powers that be and I know that certainly negatively impacted my employee experience both from a career stand point as well as personally. This company has definitely allowed me to develop alot of amazing abilities, it's just sad that when you have such a great amount of talent that you're deemed as threatening because you can see through the bullshit and not grovel when you're supposed to.

I'm a firm believer that things happen for a reason and now that this chapter in my life is finally closed and I can move on to bigger and better things, even if I should have done so earlier. I'm blessed to have this time off and even though I don't know what my next step will be, I'm confident in my abilities and I know I've got some big things in my future. As hard as it is to walk away from something you've lived and breathed for so long, it's been 3 weeks now and I must confess I've never felt more free...