I Joined the Great Resignation.

I may be late (as always), but better late than never. 

On the afternoon of January 6, resignation letter “in hand” (or more saved and digitally signed), I took the plunge. I pressed send, and in seconds the letter was waiting in the inboxes of my immediate supervisor and team head. No turning back now. 

I was finally a part of the Great Resignation.

In 2020, when the pandemic hit, many employees were also struck by the realization that there was more to work. The quarantine gave people the time they would have never had otherwise with their nine to five. And perspectives on the workforce were turning a corner the world was not expecting (for a deeper dive on the Great Resignation, check this article out).

On top of that, a handful of creators found fame in the social media world which created a boom in the creator economy amid the pandemic. Many of these influencers focused more on their bouts of content creation with the quarantine. These were, in turn, consumed by viewers who were likewise freer to watch the new content.

I witnessed people from different vocations pre-Covid 19 transition into the content creator world with the quarantine. This is a personal opinion, but I believe watching some of these may have even boosted the drive for many others to leave their job in hopes for “greener pastures.” Although it seemed promising, content creation may not be my thing. Even so, my thoughts on social media changed drastically with the phenomena.

Being in a third-world country, the influence of social media was evident, but the shocking mass resignation was not present here. Millions of Filipino workers were displaced by the health crisis, about 4.7M as of Dec 2021 per this article. 

Even essential industries such as banks and food freight services only worked on skeletal force or laid-off probationary employees. 

The idea of a Great Resignation was far from the thoughts and minds of a small nation like this. But that does not mean that employees who were fortunate to keep their jobs were in favorable work environments or were far from burnout.

Note to self, if the only reason you are staying is because you should feel lucky to have a paying job, your motivation and drive will run dry. That is not good enough. (Pay-grade was not one of the top drivers of the Great Resignation according to this MIT Sloan Management Review article, the biggest factor was the environment)

I, for one, did not have the luxury to follow in the footsteps of the Western world, though deep within my heart, I was yearning to break free. I was ready to leave, but I was always told it was not wise to abandon ship during this world crisis. This was a stable job, people are ready to retire in without the need (for some) to move up the corporate ladder. As I said in my October 2020 post: “Why would I rock the boat? It is floating perfectly fine.” And so I gave it time. 

2020 and 2021 were years of waiting and failed attempts to look for a similar paying job with possibly half the stress of my current position. Realizing I was merely prolonging the inevitable, I decided to end 2021 with a Bang! This was again pushed back due to requests to “rethink” my situation and only leave when I have a job offer under my belt or after I receive the 2022 1st quarter bonus. After delaying my plans for almost two months, I developed the guts on the 6th of January and stood my ground.

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Here are a few things I have learned in a month of REST that may help you in this Great Resignation.  

Week 1 –Quitting Cold Turkey is Hard: The Dawn of a Realization

The last week of January was jam-packed with last-minute, month-end deliverables that I worked long and hard on just so that the whole unit would reach its monthly quotas. On top of that, I was helping care for family members infected with the Covid-19 and still hit (and expected to exceed) my work quotas, even if it was my last few weeks of work.
By this time, I honestly could not care less about hitting my targets, I cared more about trying to leave my post as clean as possible, no mess or backlogs.

I was asked to finish all my March 31, 2022 expiries, and it was just the second week of January. Upper management did not want me gone without my 1st quarter deliverables already in the bag (as much as possible). Even to the last few days tied to the Bank, I worked as fast and as much as I could to finish all these accounts. That way, whoever would end up with all of my remaining deliverables for the year would not have to worry until April 2022.

Sadly, two group-of-accounts did not submit all the mandatory requirements before my last few days, and I had to promptly turn these over to two different credit officers. Needless to say, these were turned over with a rough draft of each write-up including all the updated information I already had on hand until the very last minute.

As a friend said, I stopped cold turkey from busy, busy weeks and chasing corporate deadlines to an unprepared mind that was demanded nothing. I looked forward to the nothingness that I hadn’t realized when it was already right in front of me.

Only after a few days did my heart and mind embrace the fact that the race was over. I no longer needed to jump through hoops to meet corporate quotas. It was time to let go. And all I needed to do right now was sleep.

Week 2- Recognise if you are Burnt-out: Sleep, sleep, sleep, and more

No one knew how tired I actually was. Even I was shocked by the amount of sleep my body took in. On average, I slept like a cat for 12-14 hours a day.

I slept later than normal, about 1 am but woke up by 9 am (body clock) and tried to catch more Zzz all the way to 1 pm. After I get up, I try to do a little research, a little writing, and, lastly, I try to walk my dog before I get myself some mid-day meal. By 3pm, I am tired and give myself an afternoon snooze. At 5 o’clock I am usually up again. I try to write, watch some shows, and then it is 11pm, and I get ready for bed.

I was caught off-guard with how a daily 2hr nap still made me sleep for another 12 hours that night. Even with all the sleep, I felt tired all the time.

Chatting with a cousin, I mentioned my lethargy, to which she attributed the fatigue to burnout. I believe so. Another friend of mine told me sleeping was fine. If your body is telling you that you needed all that sleep, then maybe you really do.  

This Forbes article may help you pinpoint signs of burnout and help you begin addressing the problem. 

I believe all that sleep helped me through a tougher week I was not expecting ahead.

Week 3 –Chapters are meant to end with some pain: Unknown Tears 

After one of these long hours of sleep, I woke up with a heavy heart. Was I happy? After all that trouble I faced with my decision to leave sooner rather than later with my supervisors, was this heavy heart regret?

I had plans for this month, but even these plans seemed to evade me. The past two weeks of my life felt like wasted time. What if I did the wrong thing? What if the banking world was all that there was for me, and there was nothing more?

One of the factors for my dampened spirits, I believe, was when I asked about getting another health insurance coverage for my parents. This time the premium would entirely be out of pocket and on a personal (not corporate) account. I learned that a package like that was impossible for a personal account since corporations vouched to help cover the insured, especially the insured elderly. So was this really the right decision?  

I felt like I dug myself a grave, and I allowed myself to wallow in it.

Then I remembered when I went to Japan in 2019. I attended a conference that told me that we as a generation have forgotten how to lament. In the plenary, we were told to lament our past selves and, if possible, even write a eulogy. This was, probably, what I needed, to grieve the loss of time I would never get back and the person I became with the job title. I needed to release the good days that will stick with me and let go of the bad days that have carved their image in my memories. 

I know I was not holding on to a past I “missed”, but sad over the things I can never change and scared of the unknown future that my situation was facing.

And though I did not realize this then, I guess the chapter was meant to close with pain. Something I was not anticipating at all. Little did I know that all the gloom of the week would help me appreciate a brighter week that was to come.

Week 4- You will Heal and Move on: Productivity put a smile on my face

For the first time in three weeks, I woke up and was ready to be up as early as 10 am (three hours early!). My mind was awake, my body was ready to get going. I read my morning devotionals, journaled through some points of reflection, and pushed myself to get out of bed and take my dog for a walk before the afternoon.

I felt productive.

Walking in the morning, the sun overhead giving life and sweat to my skin was something I did not know I needed. The lazy late mornings were calm, and the streets were empty. The world felt so real and concrete outside the corners of my house. Birds were singing, and leaves were rustling in the wind. Even if my dog’s walking habits have significantly shortened around our neighborhood—least to say boring—these 10-minute walks made my day feel whole.  

This week I completed canvassing prices for this business a friend suggested we start. I finished another blog post and got to publish (here was my most recent post), and stuck to (or at least tried to) use social media to engage with the community rather than endless scrolling. Although I still felt incredibly lost, concrete things were coming out of the objectives I set for myself. I even began scheduling what my March calendar would look like.

A part of me feared the end of this 4th week, I did not want to face the music of job hunting once again. Gladly, I met up with a friend who helped me realize that looking for a new job was not something I should be worried about. I realized that—maybe with the ideas I have been voicing out—getting another job ASAP was not my highest priority. Another friend also reminded me that I do not have to worry about getting back on the employment horse, but to take each day at a time until I eventually do.

Right now, I can do as much as I can with the free time I still have. I know if I get another job, I will no longer have the time to take my dog out for a walk under the warm embrace of the morning sun, something I do not want to lose. I had to look for a way around but, in the meantime, I will take all the lazy morning strolls my freedom can get.

I choose to rest in the stillness. Even if nothing new is going on for me right now, I found peace in this “nothingness”. What I have at this moment is the best thing I can have (even if it isn’t a well-paying job or a great employer), I will just have to move forward with it.