“Go then, there are other worlds than these.”
– Jake Chambers, The Gunslinger by Stephen King

In my industry, you hear a lot about people leaving and then coming back. As more people find out I’m leaving, I hear this on a daily basis in various forms. I get to hear lots of stories about how so-and-so went into ‘the commercial side’ but came back because the money was better. Or the benefits were better. Or they just didn’t like the other culture.

It’s a warning people feel they need to give me. I’m young, I don’t know what I want, and I will come back. So I shouldn’t burn any bridges.

But there’s a disconnect – and a big one – with how people at work see it and how my long time friends see it. My friends know that there is no way, and I mean NO WAY, that I will ever go back to working for another giant corporate aerospace company.

Simply put, it just isn’t me.

I’m a person who makes decisions quickly, because I think about things from every side almost obsessively. I’ve put an extreme amount of thought into this decision. I’ve also considered a lot of other options over the last 4 years. I may be young, but this is what I want.

I can’t guarantee it’s what I want in the future, but after years of being in aerospace, I can say with absolute confidence I know what I don’t want and there is no way that’s changing.

If you didn’t attend my wedding, you wouldn’t know that the rabbi told a version of a story about how my husband and I came to find each other. She learned this from our multiple [required, per Jewish custom] conversations before our wedding. While my husband dated whomever came along and eventually happened to stumble upon the woman for him, my path was far more deliberate.

I learned from each relationship I chose. I didn’t stay long if I knew it wasn’t going to work, even if I still liked the person. I learned what I liked and I didn’t like, and I didn’t settle for someone with characteristics I’d already ruled out as desirable. When I wanted someone, I went for them.

My career is no different. I know what I like and what I don’t, and while I know people are going to continue to look at me and think she’ll be back, I know they’re wrong.

I move forward whenever possible. There are new things to learn, new places to see, and other worlds to experience.

There’s more to life than this.

And there’s more to life than waking up every day knowing you’re not in the career you should be in.