Today I quit my job

I did- I quit my job today. For the last two years, I worked as the Director of the Ann Loeb Bronfman Gallery at the Washington DC Jewish Community Center. You'd think that today would be "My Day"- that people would want to know why I'm leaving, where I'm going, and what I will be doing in the future. Instead, today, I'm finding, is really about everyone else.

I say that because the minute the "shock heard around the world" here, people came to me to get the scoop. Then, after a few minutes of my describing my hatred towards DC and my love of a certain farm in Indiana and the energy I get from my family, it was on to them.

"That's not what happened to me when I gave my letter of resignation!" said a co-worker who resigned a few weeks ago and is counting his days until freedom. "I didn't get those nice emails like you did."

Another co-worker, who's been job searching for months, replied "Well, I'm not leaving DC, how should I phrase my resignation letter?" Or another co-worker, frustrated with DC folks said "I just don't feel like I fit in here. I think relationships in DC are so superficial." Yet another co-worker said, "I'm so jealous you had the balls to quit- I envy you." I had the final visitor-co-worker of the day standing in front of me in my office just now. "I'm thinking about moving on too... as soon as my business takes off and I get my finances in order, probably by the end of the year, I'm out of here. I've been here 6 years, I'm not going to stay until 10 or 11!"

Wow. It's so fascinating to see how one decision: moving away from big city life towards farm life with family opens up the flood gates for everyone to do some self-reflection! What's the point of living a certain life just to SAY you're living it? Why not make a decision that (although difficult, yes) will make your life more fulfilled? Instead of homeless people, and rude neighbors, why not surround yourself with people you love and people who love you? To me, this only makes sense- it is very clear. However, sometimes it takes seeing someone else take the plunge to get enough courage to do it yourself.