People are quitting good jobs -- me too

Thoughts about stepping away from a nice opportunity.

Two weeks ago I wrote a newsletter about two guys who quit their pretty terrific jobs to do something else.

You can read it here if you would like (and bless you if you do) but here’s the quick synopsis:

The two were relatively young men, millennials, and maybe they didn’t have the job of their dreams, but by their own accounting, they had pretty great ones. They were very well compensated and they were well aware that others might be incredibly envious that they had the job.

But they quit.

And the point of the newsletter entry was, we’ve heard about the Great Resignation, where the labor shortage lets workers leave lousy jobs to take better ones. But there’s also a subset of people who have used the COVID lockdown to rethink what they are doing, and what makes them happy.

(That is also true, it turns out, of true of Baby Boomers, who have been doing some thinking during the pandemic and are unexpectedly retiring instead of jumping back into the workforce.)

Anyhow these two guys decided to make an unexpected change. One is throwing pottery in a local studio and the other is grooming dogs. And they both said, although this may not be what they are doing for the rest of their lives, for now it makes them happy.

After I wrote it, I kept thinking back to my conversations with them. How often do we continue to do something out of obligation or a paycheck? And, I kept thinking, how often are we in a position where we don’t need to do it and could change if we wanted.

So I quit.

Granted, having just announced that I quit may not be the optimum time to ask if you want to subscribe. Nevertheless . . .

You may know that I have been writing a once-a-week column for the Examiner. It was mostly this newsletter re-purposed and it appeared in the SFExaminer.com web site during the week and then in the Sunday print edition.

Last week I told Examiner owner Clint Reilly and editor in chief Carly Schwartz that I was going to quit. And then I sent out a Tweet, just to make it official.

Kinda surprised by the reaction. Really appreciated the support and offers of help. There was even a brief flare-up of a conspiracy theory, that I was nudged out for being too conservative in a mostly progressive newspaper.

First, being the victim of a shadowy conspiracy has long been on my bucket list. Delighted to be able to cross it off.

But just to be clear, they could not have been nicer. Reilly made more than one attempt to talk me out of leaving and Schwartz, who I think is doing a good job, called to see if there were any accommodations she could make to keep me around.

But I turned them down. And the reason is that, on the advice of my social media advisor (my savvy son) I took a week off to think about how I was feeling. I knew I wasn’t very happy with the column, but it took a while to figure out what the problem was.

It was me.

First, since I am still writing a sports column for the Santa Rosa Press Democrat, writing two columns a week was starting to feel like I was back at work full time.

Retirement took some getting used to. But I’ve got the hang of it now, and waking up on a Monday morning with nothing more pressing than a nice lunch with my wife, or a friend, sounds really good.

All right, I’ve gotten a little lazy. Sue me.

Again, probably not a great time to suggest that you share this, but hey, it might be . . .

Second, I can bang out a sports column pretty easily. I had 20 years of experience, I have a bunch of stories I can tell (and yes, I sometimes repeat myself) and there are regular games and outcomes for fodder.

But in the Examiner column I was trying to comment on the city. It felt important, like I really needed grind on important issues — the school board, homelessness, the Tenderloin and local politicians.

I have opinions about those things (you’ve seen some of them here) but I didn’t like making them the topic every single time. I started to feel like every column was another cranky rant.

I feel like I have more to say than that. And again, no one was pushing me to write those rants. My little inner voice was telling me that was what I was supposed to do.

So I told that little inner voice to shut up.

When I realized this was optional, again with the help of my very perceptive son, it was a relief.

I think we all get caught up in the fact that we spend most of our lives trying to climb the career ladder, to work hard and hopefully be recognized for what you do. I got to do that here and it was an absolute blessing — beyond what I ever dreamed.

But it was a little hard to shut off. To allow myself to step away from a good job, good money and a public presence.

But it feels right.

Now, about the newsletter. Not sure what will happen. I am testing it out to see how I like doing something more free-form again. I like to write, and you’ve been nice enough to read it.

I will keep you posted. I’ve got some ideas. It may not appear as often. Or I may get in a groove and do it weekly.

Also, for those of you who have financially supported the newsletter, I’d be happy to give you a refund if you’d like. No hard feelings and hope you will still read for free.

Let’s just see what the future brings.

However, I am pretty sure of one thing.

It won’t be throwing pottery.

Contact C.W. Nevius at cwnevius@gmail.com. Twitter: @cwnevius