Two weeks ago I quit my job.
I walked into a meeting room with my boss, formally quit, thanked him for everything, and left work that day feeling like a stray balloon floating along Market street, walking one foot in front of the other, fully on auto-pilot.
After three-and-a half years I decided to move on from a comfortable lukewarm place full of lovely, smart people and chose instead to jump off the high dive into the deep end of a brand new pool of talented strangers. (I chose this metaphor because the high dive scared the shit out of me when I was a kid. FYI.)
Today is my last day and I am excited, nervous, intimidated, but also confident that I am tenacious enough to do well in my new role.
Still, leaving the building I've walked to and from for years, leaving my routine, leaving my (boring) lunch spots, leaving the familiarity, and especially leaving the people I've been around for so long with such consistency, is strange — hard even. But I think it's the right time for a change, even if it's scary, because that's how I've grown in the past. My creative career is basically leaps off high dives into unknown and bigger pools, so maybe I just want to see how far I can go.
I will tell you though, that the people remain lovely over time. The coworkers that were awesome generally remain awesome, and the people who actually became friends stay your friends, and even become the most valuable people that show their true colors when it comes time to recommend you for your next gig, a new project, or introducing you to new talented people. That's my favorite part of changing jobs; this aspect of constant friend-making (or "networking" as Linkedin would call it) keeps me aiming to be a hard working and kind person — like Conan said!