Highway to Happy

I remember writing about the final scenes of Karate Kid months ago. I remember typing the words away on my laptop, whatever was going through my mind the actual time I was watching it. Having written it at 2am I opted to re-read it first thing the next day before posting it here. Too bad, first thing the next day, my dear old laptop’s hard drive collapsed and all my precious files died with it.

So, that Karate Kid entry never saw daylight. I thought about re-writing it but I was never in the mood. Until today.

I found out through Facebook that a friend just quit her job. She realized it ceased offering her anything other than monetary compensation. A brave soul, she must be. I can’t imagine leaving my job at this point, in spite and despite of all the rants. Is it because I don’t have enough guts to walk away or I simply don’t want to leave?

The final scenes of Karate Kid kind of reminded me the answer and now I’m in the state of mind to tell, at least, a part of that story.

It was the scene when the kid was already hurt and he was trying to persuade his mentor to let him fight. He was asked to give one valid reason why he should continue. His answer was simple: because he was still scared and he doesn’t want to be scared, anymore.

Probably, you can’t figure out the connection between my work dilemma and the kid’s answer. I, myself, can’t deliver a one-liner logical explanation why it got me thinking about my job, in the first place, the very time I was watching the scene. I just thought to myself, that 12-yr old kid is right. I shouldn’t quit on something simply because it annoys me or it pains me or it stresses me out of my wits. I shouldn’t quit on something. Period. Because quitting means walking out without having the job done.

I appreciate my work, even though it doesn’t pay me enough to spoil my parents once in a while, even though I don’t have a health card and my parents shoulder my expenses when I get sick and I get sick more often since I started working, even though I feel like all beaten up by weekend due to unreasonably long work hours, even though I am a professional with a hard-earned license but is paid with a lot less than what a call center agent gets. At this point, if I tender my resignation, I’ll know in my heart it is because I’m quitting on something that is difficult, something that pushes me to my limit and succeeds in reaching it. And that is the very reason why I’m staying.

As long as leaving feels like quitting, I’ll stay. The time to leave is when it finally feels like moving on.