the great resignation!

Are you feeling demotivated? undervalued? tired of the daily and pointless commute to work in a world where petrol makes your salary feel inconsequential and still deeply confused about what is going on between Russia and Ukraine right now?

well, let me tell you about another silent killer, an epidemic that has been infiltrating the depths of the modern corporate world and something they do not want you to know about: the great resignation.

In a world post the Spanish flu, we were given the prohibition, opulence, and the great gatsby, a far cry from the great resignation that follows us in the aftermath of the covid-19 pandemic.

what is it you may ask?

The term ‘Great Resignation’ was coined by Dr Anthony Klotz to refer to the significant number of employees expected to leave their current roles during or towards the end of the pandemic.

Klotz believes that pandemic-related “epiphanies” about “family time, remote work, commuting, passion projects, life, and death” have changed the way employees think about work. In conjunction with “pent-up resignations,” these “epiphanies” have led to the ‘Great Resignation’

Today, I must confess, that I too am a fellow commandeer of the cause and have formally resigned from my job after 2 and a half years to pursue a master’s degree in law at Trinity College Dublin in 2022/2023.

The world of work was never normal for me, I was plunged into the obnoxiously named “new normal” three months into my career when the entire world shutdown indefinitely. There I was, barely 22, even more, confused and anxious and dealing with the sudden death of my uncle who acted more as a surrogate father than an uncle. There was nothing normal about my articles experience, with delayed exams, incomplete mandatory classes, pay cuts and so much uncertainty as to whether I even had a stable job.

I did what I was told to do, as quaintly put my mother “put on my big girl panties” and braved it all. I did not take leave when my grandmother was horrifically taken from us in the first wave. I got married on a public holiday and had a four-day-long honeymoon. I fell right in line in accepting the corporate demands of my time, all my time.

2021 was the same, my silence was a testament to me being complicit in my devotion to the capitalist scams that are sold to us as dreams. I missed the birth of my niece, every family holiday or reunion, and delved further into my depression, resulting in an unprecedented weight gain and of course more self-loathing.

2022 rolled around and my approach to work did not change. My steady devotion continued after my promotion to associate and official attorney title. It remained unwavering after throwing up in a bin at my desk (in front of everyone) due to my inflamed stomach lining and being hospitalised for severe migraines.

little by little I let every part of happiness bleed from me, and continued to say never say no when asked to go above and beyond. My creativity was all but a fable to me at this stage and work was in fact NOT emotionally fulfilling.

One dark but poignant day, I decided to bite a long put-off bullet and decided to very naively apply to a top 100 university. I did not believe I could get in and so I did not even tell anyone when I applied.

On April 1st, 2022, I was offered conditional acceptance. Acceptance I could not comprehend that I even deserved and yet again I put it off and kept it to myself, silently yearning to go but never fully believing I could actually fulfill my dream.

So if you’re thinking about a resignation, please bite the bullet and DO IT ALREADY. The world has more to offer, as selfish and self centered as it may seem in a world where people are well and truly suffering. You owe it to yourself to carve out a better and healthier path.

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