After just 7 months, I have left BFDS - Midwest again.
Seems a bit of a shame to have gone back to leave again. In truth, I do not see it that way. I left the position once to go to South Korea to teach, but then I imagined myself back at that job and in truth, it was not reality. I thought by going back I could jump back on the track I was on and pick back up where I left off. Not so. People who I worked closely with had moved upward and onward.
I think the real "shocker" was that I was getting paid the exact same amount I had been making 3.5 years before...when I was single...without a house...a child...and another child on the way.
A job is not all about the money right? Wrong! Doing what you like does not always mean making a lot of money, but you must make enough to take the worry of .
Ok, I think it is important to stop here and talk about a few things. First, I could do that job and I could do it well. Emphasis on the could as I was no longer in love with the position. Second, the company is not a bad one. It actually has lots of benefits and, for the right kind of person, a lot of mobility. Third, I was the one who rose-colored the whole experience. It was both good and bad -- not realizing that is a great oversight on my part.
So the lesson right? The lesson is that you could be doing the thing you believe in, are good at and -- as a man -- be empty because you are not fulfilling a major aspect of what makes you a man. I would work hard--pushing through many weeks of more than 40 hours (sometimes upward of 60+) and we would be barely getting by. Every two weeks I would bring that paycheck home and hate the fact that it was barely keeping our heads at water level.
It was the same lesson I learned at SCS, but did not realize I had learned it. One of the reasons we had to go was the salary of a married school teacher at that school meant my wife would have to find employment. The catch? She could not legally work in South Korea under the current visa unless she found a company to sponsor her. Therefore, even doing something I loved, if you are not able to take care of your family financially, it isn't the right job for you.
