I quit

"I quit." Those can be really ugly words. I suppose, at the heart of that phrase, there's an admission of failure. Which is why I'm constantly preaching to the kids that they shouldn't quit on something just because it's difficult or they don't get it right the first time.

But there are times when quitting is necessary. Especially when you're talking about your career, your well-being, and your mood around the house when you're supposed to be enjoying time with your family. So after more than eight years at my job, I gave my notice this past week. My last day is Jan. 20 and I'm going to work for myself as a freelance writer for a while.

Taking a leap like this is exciting and scary at the same time. We have some money saved in the near term, so we're OK there. We're also trying to sell my parents' old house in Connecticut sometime this spring, so this newfound flexibility will allow me to make some trips up there, get the place cleaned up and meet with an agent to handle the sale.

Honestly, though, my job had become a source of angst. I saw this image online today and it really summed things up for me.

I won't bore you with all the details, but after several attempts at improving my situation there with new projects and ideas, I was repeatedly told "sorry, that can't happen," or, "that's just the way things are." I only hope I didn't complain too much to my co-workers about all this. And hey, if you guys are reading this, I want to thank you for listening when I was having bad days.

I think the worst part about this whole thing was hearing a supervisor tell me this week that "we knew you weren't happy for a while here." So why the hell didn't they meet me halfway to come up with some solutions?

I don't want to dwell on that, though. I want to get back to doing what I love, and that's writing. Even if I can't make the freelance gig work out for the long term, I think it will put me in a better position to land my next full-time job. I'm setting up a website for my materials as we speak and I already have a few leads on some work.

So wish me luck and keep in touch. I'll let you know how it goes.