Hi, My Name is Jeremy, and I am a Quitter…
I feel like I should be standing up to tell my story in a support group - Hi, my name is Jeremy, and I am a quitter.
“Don’t be a quitter” is a phrase that has so many meanings. The obvious one is the literal meaning of it, as a means of encouraging people to push through adversity.
My favorite is using it “tongue in cheek” when someone asks something like, “Are you going to finish all those french fries?” - I’m no quitter!
In all seriousness, I have always felt strongly that I was “not a quitter.” I push through when things are challenging, I problem solve and find solutions. Perhaps the finish line doesn’t look like I thought it would when all is said and done, but I persevere. It is something I enjoy, and I feel like I have a talent for getting creative to achieve a goal. However, I have been reading through bloggers, online groups and social media content creators who have taken a similar leap to take a sabbatical, and what I am realizing is that, like all of them, I actually am a quitter. It’s strange to come to grips with, but I feel a sense of pride in embracing it.
Here are a few reasons why:
I am a quitter because I needed to be for my own mental health.
I am a quitter because I know my own worth, and don’t want to find myself in a place where I am not valued accordingly.
I am a quitter so that I can be the best husband and friend that I can be.
I am a quitter so that I can and will move on to the next challenge. So that I can set new and more ambitious goals.
Since the pandemic, there has been a lot written about “quiet quitting,” or the intentional act of an employee doing as little as possible to stay under the radar with their boss and essentially not get fired. I have never liked this term for a couple reasons. First, it was the hot button of the moment, which gave the legitimate feeling of burnout and overwhelmingness of the time a negative and passive aggressive label. In the corporate world, it was overly used and blown out of proportion. This brings me to my second reason for avoiding the quiet quitting label - It’s not new. It’s something that has always been going on. When people are one foot out the door, have severe burnout or an overall lack of engagement, they always start to put in less effort. They do what needs to be done to get their paycheck until they can find a new job. Rather than pointing the finger at the employees, it is the job of leaders to have the emotional intelligence to detect these issues in their teams and work with them to find the individual path forward that will help that person begin to thrive again.
Looking more organizationally, I am also reading a lot about the trend in the corporate world (not just the academic world) to create sabbatical programs as a benefit to employees. I have long been an advocate for companies to get out of the traditional mindset for benefits programs. I know that there are budgetary and potential legal liability considerations for these offerings, but just having medical, dental and two weeks vacation isn’t enough anymore. To me, the way to attract and retain top talent beyond just backing up a truckload of money for a large salary or sign on bonus is by offering them the freedom to choose benefits that they intrinsically value. Paid tuition (for self and/or dependents), housing or car allowances and extended vacation and/or sabbatical time.
Here are a few great resources I have come across doing the work with companies to help them introduce these types of programs, as well as helping individuals plan for and achieve the goal of taking a sabbatical.
The Sabbatical Project (They also have pretty active communities on LinkedIn and Facebook where you can ask others about their experiences, get tips, etc.)
Tripping Millennial - Not just for Millennials! The author is a financial planner who shares her sabbatical experiences, how to plan for them and lots of other great first-hand suggestions.
The Case for Taking a Mid-Career Career Break - Personal Experience Blog on LinkedIn by Marie Herlihy, Global Head of Executive Search at Ericcson (March, 2024)
I have no affiliation with these organizations, their views are their own.
To end this post, I thought I would share a few images I have taken thus far, as further evidence for why “quitting” was right for me and my family. Life is all about experiences, and we are not going to let them pass us by.
Sveti Stefan, Montenegro
Restaurant JAN - Nice, France
Selection of Images of Antoni Gaudi Architecture - Barcelona, Spain
