I said my goodbyes and packed up my essential take-home items. Yes, there were some tears (What can I say? I'm sentimental—plus, it's the longest I've held a job post-college and the extent of my journalism career in New York City), but I was smiling inside.
I'm ready for a change. For the last two years, I've felt my job has been on the chopping block (thus, this blog's name). The economic downfall has hit virtually every industry, but publishing has been particularly affected as ad sales have dipped to pathetic lows. Unfortunately, my company was part of this. I lost co-workers to cutbacks.
Fortunately, I got to stay. But that doesn't mean I haven't felt threatened for the last year about the stability of my position or about the future of my career as a journalist. Plus, it hasn't been all that happy of a place. Let's face it: When a company cuts jobs—especially when those cut have become your friends—morale goes down the tubes. Not to mention the stress level increases with the workload.
I began to evaluate my career. I love journalism, but I was no longer loving my job. It was time to leave.
OK, you're thinking: She quit her job in an economy where open positions are few and far between. Well, yes. It may seem ass backwards, but I have reasoning. My theory is that I need a specialty to increase my marketability as a journalist. I plan to spend the next six months of school absorbing everything related to food. I will become an expert, and people will want to hire me. At least that's the plan.
So I randomly picked culinary arts, right? Wrong. Besides journalism, food is my other passion. I've been thinking about becoming a chef since I was in college. It just didn't seem like the right time to do it. Now is the perfect time.
My (now former) co-worker, Alex, has a tiny card posted in her cubicle that I didn't notice until today. It reads: "Begin Anywhere." How fitting.
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