A question has been bothering me for the past two months: why did I resign from my job?
Some answers included “I am not happy anymore,” “I need more challenges,” “I don’t fit the company culture,” and a variety of other possible answers. Then my friends said, “You quit your job because you are no longer happy? What a spoiled person you are!” Others stated, “You can create happiness there.” Another person suggested, “You can find other work to challenge yourself.” They might be correct. That is why I continue to think about the answers.
At my age and professional level, I believe that happiness is a key indicator of job retention. Doing something much bigger than myself, contributing to something I know will benefit many people, assisting people in developing better skills, and other similar activities can make me feel as if I am living a better life. Of course, money (salary) is very important because I owe myself appreciation for my abilities, but it is not everything.
I was lucky that one time, my boss truly understood me. To keep me, he set a new challenge for me and trusted me to do the new task. The company culture was good, too. So, I stayed. In another company, when colleagues recognized my other abilities, they trusted me to assist them with a new skill that (undoubtedly) related to my core. I really enjoyed that. My thoughts were: “This is good and I can stay longer here.” However, I did not receive adequate support to complete my primary tasks. This is dangerous because I would be evaluated based on my main responsibilities. ????
So, yes, maybe I’m picky. But, when I am happy, I am extremely productive and full of ideas. Maybe it’s because I enjoy what I do, or because I believe I’m doing something good for a lot of people. Two other very important reasons are that I receive adequate support and that there is a positive company culture. Then, when I am unhappy, I lose my desire to work. Worse yet, I could be depressed. Surely, it’s not good for me and the company because I’ll become a burden to them. My friends often amaze me. I heard they went through a lot of bad situations at work, but they managed to stay. The majority of them have been with the same company for over 20 years, regardless of whether the boss is bad, there is no good company culture, unhealthy competition, and so on. So why couldn’t I be like them?
