DaChispa

People never fail to surprise me – I’ve had a couple of friends decide to leave their jobs recently – with no jobs to go to. They made the decision that their health and quality of life was more important than job security, even in these uncertain times. I admire them for taking the leap into the unknown and suspect they will be much happier for doing it. It made me realise you should never ever believe someone who tells you that you are lucky to have your job or that you have no choice. You always have a choice – you just have to know what the options are and make a decision. When I started out, I worked in a bottling factory with women who had been there for 20 or more years and others who expected to be there for many more years. I expected to have something close to a job for life (although I already had a choice in that I could go to university and didn’t have to stay bottling soft drinks). That factory is gone now, the job for life is a foreign concept and portfolio careers are the norm. Staying put in one job is now almost a disadvantage – although I had thought the credit crunch would impact that. Maybe people are staying a bit longer in one place, but it seems that they are also prepared to take risks if the stakes (health and happiness) are high enough.