I Walked Away from the Best Job in the World, and I Have Never Been Happier
Shedding the Golden Handcuffs on your own terms
Your dream job is out there somewhere; perhaps you are working there right now. You can’t imagine ever doing anything else, it is so fulfilling, it feeds your soul; and extra bonus — they pay you well too.
Firefighter was that job for me. If you are inclined to the profession it is truly the best job in the world. You will say that statement out loud to others; especially when you first begin your career. And it will be true. At that point at least.
Hopefully you will have that same experience in your professional role if you are not there currently. And hopefully that role will extend across a few decades as it has for me. But the luster on even the best of jobs begins to fade over time if you don’t take some steps to keep it fresh. Even then, time has a way of changing things.
When I first hired on with my fire department, I couldn’t fathom why anyone would ever leave. We literally had the opportunity to save lives on occasion, and even when the situation wasn’t quite that critical, we still had the privilege of helping people in their time of need. As my good friend and colleague often said, “We are problem solving do-gooders”. What is there not to like?
