I Quit a Job I Absolutely Loved
…and these are the powerful (and quite random) lessons I learned along the way.
I hadn’t had a ‘proper job’ in around ten years before this one came along. And not because I didn’t work — it was actually because, for all of that time, I had been working for myself as a freelance writer, artist and social media campaign manager.
However, a move abroad to an island paradise, a couple of kids and a holiday back home to the UK which ended up in us staying here more permanently despite our whole lives having just been established in a whole other country, meant that things were really up in the air for a while.
So, to tide things over and get us by while we rebuilt our lives in our home country, I decided to get a job. Yeah, seriously — a job.
Amazingly, after some visualising, journaling, scripting and prayer, the absolute perfect role for me suddenly blasted its way through the cosmos and landed in my lap. And when I say perfect, I actually mean it seemed pretty much perfect for me in every way.
In my role, I was to be doing all of the things that I am so absolutely passionate about: video production, writing, social media management, presenting, public speaking and more. I couldn’t believe that there was actually a job that existed out there that seemed tailor-made specifically for me. It was incredible.
I worked for this digital media platform for 6 months, achieving massive growth for them and making my way up to being the manager of the whole entire project. It was such an amazing time and I genuinely loved the work that I was doing…
That was until the shit hit the fan.
It came to light that the project I was now managing was funded by a UK-run governmental counter-extremism agenda. I don’t even want to get into the politics and the controversy surrounding all of this but let’s just say it was a programme targeting and closely watching British Muslims and something that I, as a Muslim woman, was just not comfortable with.
So, as much as it was difficult to do so, I resigned.
Ohhh, the aftermath was absolutely crazy! This news made it to local, national and international newspapers, radio and even television.
I was approached countless times by numerous organisations all around the world to speak on the funding and my decision to leave (although I decided against it).
Twitter went absolutely twitter-crazy (as it does) and I… well, honestly, I was in pieces. I knew I’d done the right thing despite how much I loved my role there — but it still hurt. And I guess I was just a little too lost in the chaos of it all to see the blessings amongst the madness.
It has been some time now since all of that happened and I’m super grateful for the experience.
Oprah Winfrey once said,
“Turn your wounds into wisdom.”
So here I am now, standing strong and sharing the wisdom gleaned through this experience in the form of 11 lessons I learned through quitting a job I absolutely loved…
1. Trust your journey and know that every single part of it comes to you as a lesson, a blessing or a stepping stone to the next part
In this instance, this experience had to happen to teach me valuable skills for my own projects, yet at the same time to teach me hard and important lessons for my own personal growth.
Without working here, plans for my own digital media project would not have developed and flourished the way that they have. I wouldn’t have learnt some of the necessary skills needed when it comes to video production for my own video projects, and I was also reminded that I am not made to be an employee.
I trust fully that in that time of my life, I was exactly where I was meant to be.
2. If you are around people whose energies don’t sit right with you or you don’t feel aligned with, trust those feelings
As I’ve mentioned already, this was the first ‘job’ I’d had in around a decade. And in that time, I’d been on an intense journey of spiritual awakening, personal development and self-growth.
Going into this working environment was like a step back into the ‘real’ world for me (or what I would call a step even deeper into the illusion), and without judging any of my colleagues, it was a real challenge to be around negativity, chaos, gossip and drama again.
I feel energy quite intensely and for me, the energy in such a working environment just felt off and I knew that in the grand scheme of things, it wasn’t good for me to be there.
The people who you surround yourself with have a massive impact on who you become as a person — so I’m grateful that I got out when I did.
3. When something doesn’t feel right, trust that it isn’t right. Your gut never lies!
As much as I loved this job and the work that I was doing, there was something about working there that deep within me, just didn’t feel right.
I was aware of the funding to some extent and I think that it was this that made me very uncomfortable. To be in an office full of white, non-Muslims running an online digital platform for Muslim women which was funded by a counter-extremism agenda… Now that I look back, I wonder why I even stayed for as long as I did.
Even if you’re enjoying where you are and what you’re doing — if there are uncomfortable feelings about ANYTHING, that isn’t a place you need to be.
4. Social media is NOT REAL
Wow. Through this role, I caught glimpses into the lives of those who see themselves as social media ‘influencers’ and caught some insight into the modest fashion world.
Nothing is what it seems. A lot of people portray themselves very far from the truth, online. There is so much ego, so much self-worship, so much importance placed on online personas… it’s just a bit of a mess, to be honest, and something that I am truly grateful I no longer need to be around or involved in.
5. When you make a decision and do not act upon it, God has a way of shaking your world up to force you down the road that is going to take you to your ultimate destination
I went into this job knowing that it wasn’t going to be a long-term thing.
As time went on, despite how much I loved my job, I was beginning to become more and more uncomfortable with certain happenings to do with the funding and within the office, itself.
In my head, I’d already decided I was going to leave as soon as I could. But time continued to pass — and I remained.
It wasn’t until information about the funding hit Twitter that I suddenly realised that this role was no longer for me. In this way, God created the circumstances that made me follow what I’d always known on some level all along.
6. When God takes something from you, He always replaces it with something better
I’m sure you’ve experienced this for yourself.
Miracles happen in my life every single day and the week that I resigned from this job, God truly made His presence and His power known in the most wonderful (and bizarre) of ways.
Amongst other things, many freelance opportunities appeared for me after resigning from this role, as well as the opportunity to begin my own ventures again which I’d literally had no time for while being in this job.
Through this experience, I was once again reminded that God always has my back and there is never anything to worry about. When you lose something, it always comes around again in another form — just even better than before.
7. Vision boards are truly powerful things
I swear by vision boards: a physical representation of your vision for your future created by you.
I created a vision board at the beginning of the year in which I landed this role and honestly, the number of things on it that have happened/are happening or are on the way is mind-blowing.
A lot of things that I put on my vision board — such as travelling and public speaking — happened through this job, so I 100% know and trust that this experience was a vital part of my life experience, and it had to happen.
8. People will walk all over you — if you give them the power to do so
In hindsight, I now see how I was manipulated and lied to by certain colleagues, particularly in regards to the funding — but I don’t blame them.
I realise it was my own naivety and my own fault for not trusting my gut and the uncomfortable feelings I was experiencing.
I resigned from my role as manager of the whole project and of course, that meant that every single one of my colleagues turned against me.
What I will say is this: always have integrity, self-belief and stand up for what you know is right, even if you stand alone.
People will hate you, turn you into a monster, block/unfollow you on social media, but the truth is truth, regardless — and their issues are their issues, it has nothing to do with you.
9. God always provides
There is enough abundance in this world for everybody. You just have to trust that you will always be provided for, and you will.
This experience highlighted this point massively for me. I trusted that even without my income from this job, that everything would be okay — and honestly, it was.
As I mentioned in point 6, the ending of this role opened up many new doors for me. And that’s just the way the universe works.
When one door closes, another always opens.
10. People will only want to know you when they think you’re a ‘somebody’
or when they know they can get something from you.
When you’re no longer a ‘somebody’ in their eyes, then that’s it — bottom of the pile for you!
As I was running the project for a while, people knew that they could gain exposure from the platform and would always be in touch with me; friendly, supportive and always reaching out with opportunities or propositions.
When I resigned, that was the last I ever heard from some.
This has been a pretty hard lesson to learn if I’m honest with you, but a very, very important one.
11. Finally, don’t ever give up on yourself or your dreams
As much as the ending of this experience impacted me, it also gave me so much fire, passion and determination to continue on my path of making my own dreams come true.
I know I am not here to work for anyone else. I am here to do my thing, live my purpose, make my dreams come true and be of true service to humanity — and having this job deeply reinforced all of that for me.
I truly believe that every single little thing that happens in our lives, happens for a reason. There is no coincidence.
There are only blessings and lessons, and I am very fortunate that finding and quitting a job I absolutely loved turned out to be both.
