Sometimes you just gotta rip off the bandaid and go for the opportunities.
I haven’t been posting as much as I want, because I’ve been making changes. I just accepted a new job, which I start in a couple weeks!
It’s hard to leave something comfortable. I truly do enjoy my current job. It is close by, and offers me a swath of schedule flexibility. Unfortunately, the hours are not as stable as I would like, it lacks benefits, and the pay isn’t very competitive.
I have really learned a lot from this job. When I first moved to SoCal, I was offered this job and one other. That one had a longer commute and more stable hours, but I accepted a job at a pediatric clinic. It was close enough I could walk to the clinic from home. I didn’t have pediatric experience but with two special needs stepkids, it seemed like a good experience. That wasn’t wrong. It has been.
Unfortunately, SoCal is expensive AF. The new job offered enough pay and benefits to make a slightly miserable commute worthwhile (and it’s near a direct bus line, so on days I don’t drop the kiddos off at school I may have the option of bussing it). The overall vibe I got from the interviews felt very similar to my first employer, who I loved and if they existed in SoCal I wouldn’t be job hunting because I’d absolutely be working for them (free shoutout to Infinity Rehab; my opinions on them are my own but I think they’d appreciate the sentiment), so I hope that the vibe check I got is accurate. In the long run, I feel this is going to be a positive change. I’ve done similarly long commutes before; it will give me a change to get caught up on my podcasts.
Still, it’s hard. I love my patients, my colleagues, and my boss. As much as I know this is a positive change, it’s still always scary. Growth often requires change, but it often hurts in the process. This is one of those types of changes.
In addition to this, I did the most stereotypical thing I could do for starting a new year: I got a gym membership. So my schedule already just got upended as I try and fit 3-4 hours a week in there, and now I’m upending it more with more work hours and a longer commute.
I may be insane. But I hope I come out the other end of it for the better. My anxiety will be sky-high in the meantime.
(If anyone knows if the Escondido/Solana Beach bus schedule is reliable or not, leave a comment so I can figure out if this will be a commute option for me!)
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