Exactly one year ago, I left my corporate job. I really wanted to try something else – be my own boss and focus only on activities related to my passion for helping people in their career development. No more deadlines, meetings, re-organizations, competing priorities, dependencies… It was time to leave it all behind and start a new chapter of my life. And now I crave going back to an organization. When I first admitted it to myself, I felt a sense of failure. The little voice in my head was nagging me: “You see? You shouldn’t have left. What was this all about? Why didn’t you just stay put?”
And then I got reminded of the old saying “You cannot step twice into the same river”. Then was then and now is now. Even if I went back to the same company, position, and team, it wouldn’t be the same. In the last year I learned new skills and gained new perspectives. Also, all the jobs and teams evolve. Overall, I can only say that I will continue my career in organization, but it’s misleading to say that I would be going “back”. I’m sure you know people who moved back to their towns and things felt completely different.
What about that sense of failure? I’ve learned a lot that I wouldn’t have been able to if I'd stayed, so I’m definitely more valuable to any team than I was a year ago. Looking back, I would have still made the same decision to leave. There was nothing wrong with the position, but it was time for me to do something else. And I think I would feel more like I failed if I stayed.
Don’t be afraid of going for it and then going "back". You will be better for it. Just make sure you don’t burn the bridges on your way out, so that when you do want to return, you will be welcomed.
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