I’m back in Singapore from my holiday to Greece (Europe). It was fun, exciting and probably the last long trip I will be on for a while. There’s a personal update on this but I’m just going to hold out on this for now. At least until I sort out my work situation.
Actually, I have an update on that too. While on the last leg of my trip, I had a job alert on LinkedIn for a role in a subsidiary within my banking group. The scope involves 50% of what I am currently doing and the other 50% is new stuff that I not done before. And I know the hiring manager because I worked with him before on a project.
I messaged the hiring manager while I was overseas, sent him the CV and applied for the job on the same day. I subsequently interviewed with him upon my return to Singapore and got the job. I informed my direct manager about this position that I will be transferring to in 2 month’s time. This whole process took a week and taught me so many lessons.
Because on the first leg of my trip, I had made the decision to resign from my current job without a new job in place. The work days leading up to my departure for the holiday were some of the worse I have been through. I have been discussing this with my wife for a while now and while she says she’s okay to hold the fort as the primary breadwinner. I know she is nervous about it due to the personal update I mentioned above.
It’s not just about the money even though she earns more than enough to sustain us as a single income household with or without kids. It’s about me not wanting to put her through the stress and pressure of being the sole breadwinner. Yes, I know our financial position is strong enough to take the hit. All the work done on building up our cash reserves, investments and reducing our liabilities have led up to this moment.
And I can’t do it. It’s one thing to be retrenched and made jobless i.e. no choice but to do it. It’s another thing to resign and make myself jobless because I couldn’t find a way out of my current work situation i.e. had a choice but did it anyway. I refuse to put my wife through the pain of having to put on a brave face and pretend to be okay with it. I would like to avoid that for as long as I can.
Anyway, now that I have worked out a solution to my problem at work, it does feel like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders. Of course, I have no idea whether things will be better at my new job, but at least it will be different from what I am facing now. It’s surprising how fast the situation can change as long as you keep pushing against that wall and don’t give up.