Northern Apex

Sometime last week, I can't remember which day, I gave a six month notice at work. I know, I know - a SIX MONTH notice??!! Well, bear with me here, there is a method to my madness.

I have a good job, some would say a great job. I've been able to set my salary and define my own job to a large extent. When I work hard, the company does better. My boss and owner of the company trusts me to keep his best interests at heart and he has been very generous to my family and I and we have several meals a year at five star restaurants with his credit card. I know there will be many eager and highly qualified applicants to take my place and I have no idea how I will spend the two years between leaving this job and starting pharmacy school but it just wasn't enough.

My boss was in from New York and we were having discussions about how I tend to inhale everyone's problems and make them my own, and it gets overwhelming after awhile. He said I need to spend less time helping my co-workers, and more time moving forward on a certain security project that had been on my plate for, admittedly, too long. I walked back to my office and sat down and realized that I really didn't want to stop helping my coworkers and concentrate exclusively on the security project - so I went upstairs and quit. The process of explaining to him how I felt really crystallized in my mind that I was making the right decision, even though it started out as a gut reaction. When it was all over, he told me I had a job at his company for life if I wanted, even after we hired a replacement, and he got up and hugged me. The whole quitting thing went so well I almost changed my mind!

So, there will be changes on the road to the apex. It feels right, after a week's reflection, to be moving on. My wife is very supportive of my decision and I'm hoping to find something really positive and fun to do for a couple years in Alaska - any prospective employers, I'm available around May 1!