On resigning from my job

Yes, a lot has happened in the 10 days since I wrote on my blog last! For most of that time I just didn't feel like writing. I made a big decision on Tuesday this week to resign from my current job. I don't have anything lined up job wise and I'm keeping an open mind about maybe working freelance, or looking for something else permanent or working as a temp for a while. One thing is for certain and that is I'll be working part time and I'm going to take some time off after working my notice before launching into anything new.

I'm extremely lucky to have someone as supportive and sensible as Jason in my life who helped and encouraged me to make this decision and has made it possible for me to take this bold move. I'm very excited about the future, something which I haven't been for such a long time. The last time I felt this excited was... well I don't know... nothing has been quite as perfect for me as now.

When I look back at the important decisions I've made in my life I have usually chosen the cautious option, the one I'm most familiar with or I have been forced to take the option which offered me the best financial reward but not the most happiness.

I think I've often taken the cautious but ambitious route with work because I'm fundamentally concerned about how being partially sighted will affect me in work. I chose teaching because I knew how a school worked, I knew what the physical environment would be like. But I was terrified of working in a supermarket when I was 17 because I didn't know how my visual impairment would affect me in that unknown environment, so although I'd got through the interview I turned down the job. Heaven forbid that I'd have to ask for help! In the last 10 years since leaving teaching, I've stuck with jobs in the public sector because I know there is more chance of a public sector employer employing a disabled person. I've then put tremendous pressure on myself to achieve, to be the best, and not be defined by my disability. It's lead to me taking stressful jobs and making them more stressful. The exception to this was working at the Disability Rights Commission, it is such a shame it closed down in so many ways.

For the first time in my life I have made a decision which is not cautious and which will make me feel content and the feeling is totally liberating. I can recommend it!