Today I turned in my resignation at work. My last day will be August 13 (yes, Friday the 13th).
I have spent the past 3.5 years of my life working at Focus. In the end, I was ready for a new challenge. As you may have seen in the news, we just had to RIF approximately 100 positions on Friday. Later that day we were told what the new structure looks like and how many people had been let go from our department. I don’t think it’s appropriate to go into exact numbers here. On Monday I was told what that meant for my position. Monday night I composed my letter of resignation and it was received today. In short, because of the changes to my role and department I felt this was a good time to execute this decision – one we’ve been mulling over for awhile.
For the past 9 or so months, Stacey and I have been discussing my future at Focus. I have been ready to move on and to do something different for awhile now. Although the stability of this position is great, it also doesn’t lead to immediate “upward mobility opportunities” unless someone leaves. The timing of that decision was really the only unknown. Due to recent events we felt like this was the right time for us to make that move. My time and experience at Focus was great in addition to the professional expertise gained. Personally, this position allowed us to bridge that gap between military and civilian life. We were able to settle here, buy a house, and have 2 children all during this time. Additionally, I loved working with the people in my department. Great people, great senses of humor, and great professionals. I’ll really miss some of the people and camaraderie around here.
So the bigger question is, what’s next? Actually, this is the part that is exciting yet ambiguous at this point. For the first month or two, Stacey and I are going to cut back and see what it’s like to live off of her income. This is obviously only going to be temporary. However, if we find it’s manageable and enjoyable, this phase may last for a few months or longer. At this point, me being home will alleviate a lot of the stress that Stacey is dealing with in terms of the kids and household duties. It will allow me to also do a lot of things with the kids before Julia starts pre-school next fall...which be a memorable and valuable time. During that initial time, I may use my GI Bill and essentially get paid to go to back to school for my underwater basket-weaving degree. And, in addition to that (or solely), take some more time to think through the next step in my career. Obviously it will take a few months or more to find an appropriate next job. The point is, we have a lot of options and what I ultimately end up doing during the next few months (or longer) will probably be mainly driven by what we determine is “feasible” financially. Obviously, our current situation allows for some flexibility and a large time buffer and we won’t have to make any rash decisions out of necessity.
We’re excited about what this means for our family in the short term. I’ll keep you all updated what we do next!