Let it Go

I've worked for the same company over the past decade (God I feel old typing that!). It's not a very glamorous job, and the pay is kinda crappy. But the benefits are good, and job security isn't something that I need to worry about at all - even when the economy is at it's worst. Those two reasons alone were enough to keep me put for so long. But after working a dead end job for so long, I started to feel more then a little bit trapped by it. I mean - I could move up and have a career with them easily enough, but I had begun to realize just how much I would eventually hate my job if I did that.

Now, with most of my gender issues largely in the past, it was time I started pouring that energy into improving some other part of my life. I needed to figure out what I wanted to be when I grew up, and then actually do what I could to make it a reality. So after 10+ years of keeping the same job, I'm finally letting it go.

Yep! I turned in my two week notice ^_^ Well, to be honest I tried to. My boss asked if I would consider staying on part-time, and I figured it would work out OK (my new boss is pretty awesome). I'll prolly have to quit completely in a couple of months anyway, but for now it seems like a good option.

Financially, I'm doing well enough to make this possible. And it's not like I'm just quitting without having a plan in place to earn a living. I'm going to take advantage of my new-found freedom, and do something I've been needing to do for a long time. I'll be going back to school, this time to learn to become an electrologist. I've given the matter a lot of thought, and it just makes perfect sense. Eventually I'll get to be my own boss, set my own hours, get to help other people, and do a simple repetitive task on a daily basis without the stress of a deadline. In short - it's exactly what I've always wanted to do (I'm weird in that I absolutely love mindless repetitive tasks). And if everything goes well, I'll have the opportunity to make more money then I would have in years of moving up the ladder at my old company! How can I say no to that?

So I've already enrolled in the electrology program - which happens to be in LA. I've got about a month or two where I can do online classes from home, but then I'll have to move out there for about three months for the hands-on classroomy type schtuffts. Once that's done I'll be coming back to the bay (I would have a hard time living out in LA - three months is long enough!). Next week is my last full week at work, and then I'll be dropping down to two days a week so I can focus on school. I'm so excited!!!

This also helps solve one of my other dilemas. For a loooong time now, I've wanted to be more involved in the trans community. I've done a few different things, but I've always wanted to do more, ya know? By working in this field, I'll be much closer to the community then I've been able to be for a long time. Not only will I be able to make a difference and help people out just by doing my job, I'll be in a position to supply first hand information, resources, contacts, etc... to some of the girls just starting out and looking for help since I've experienced what it's like transition myself. I'm thinking it will be a much more rewarding experience then collating business packets for corporate budget meetings ^_^

Is it going to be easy? Prolly not. But transitioning was way harder then this is going to be. Will it be risky? Definitely. But it's certainly a calculated risk - the worst case scenario is that I go back to my old job and start over, so there's no real loss there. In short, I've got nothing to lose, and everything to gain. Change can be a pretty amazing thing.