I Quit

It's official. I've been unemployed for exactly a week now. I can't believe I finally got up the nerve to quit my job. I've been mulling the idea around in my head for months and discussing the pros and cons with Johnny night after night. But it was hard to say goodbye to such a steady income. 

Ultimately, what it came down to was time. I simply didn't have the time to take care of Sally and work full time. More and more often Sally was getting shuffled to my sisters' homes, and I'm so grateful for the help they gave me in watching her the last several months. For the last six months or so, work was increasingly demanding, and I didn't even have time to enjoy being a mom. Sally was being placed in front of the TV as I scrambled to make a dent in my constant backlog of work. We talked about getting someone to come take care of her at our house while I worked during the week, but the money we would have paid that person would have eaten up most of my pay. Plus I really wanted to be able to focus more attention on our girl. 

And so I put in my two weeks' notice. And other than a few minor feelings of panic in the beginning, it mostly just felt so good to finally be quitting. Since Sally was eight weeks old, I've been juggling her and my work, and it was just too much. Sometimes I wonder if my first year of motherhood would have been much less overwhelming if I hadn't also been working. Even though it's only been a week, I find myself enjoying my time with Sally so much more, rather than counting down until her nap time so I can edit some tight-deadline project. 

My coworkers were great and super understanding, and it was pretty weird to quit a job I'd held for 4.5 years. But it felt right, and I'm so very happy to be spending more time with little Sal gal. And in case you're wondering if I have a ton of free time on my hands now, the answer is "No!" I'm working on managing our household a little better, cooking meals (which I've barely done for months now), and I'm doing some freelance writing and keeping up our personal finance blog. The difference is that I can do all of that on my own time. Anyway, for me, today, this was the right decision. And I'm so glad I finally had the guts to do it.