Between Leaving and Moving

A few of days back, a friend of mine said she was leaving the company she is currently working. So, i asked her,the next logical question, which is where is she going. She said, she is joining a small startup. I asked, so does it pay better. She said, no! She is a bright engineer and so asked her, why aren't you applying to the bigger companies. You know, the natural progression is to move from one good company to another good company. Her reply to that was, she wasn't relocating to another company like a job shift. She said, she is leaving this one and moving to another. I asked, well what's the difference? Her answer was, you see, for most people, job shift appears like a single atomic transaction. I mean, you leave one job and move on to another, thereby completing the circle and finishing the transaction. She said, that is very different from what she was doing. She said, "its not like one fine day i woke up and decided to leave and hence started hunting out for other jobs and finally landed up in another company". She said, "one fine day i woke up and i saw something. I thought it was far better than what i do. I like what i am doing now, but i find this to be far more interesting than what i am doing". So, she said, " I decided, i will give it a shot and see if i can get there, in that new work place. I talked to them and told them what they are doing seemed interesting and i would like to be part of this venture. So, they offered me a position, with a little lesser salary and of the same designation. But, i readily accepted".

This conversation, was a great eye opener for me. I suddenly realized, why some of my friends, are still enjoying their break from work, even though its been more than a year. I am not talking about people who don't work because they are lazy or find working boring. I am talking about people who have worked for sometime and are genuinly taking some time off from work, before deciding what next to do.

My 2 dearest friends, i can completely understand your state of mind, right now and i thought i should codify this new found knowledge of mine :). I have even called you "jobless" at times,when you have sent those long "planner emails". But, now, i completely understand the difference and the state of your mind. Enjoy your break! Amen!