I am serving my 30-day notice period at my company, Jackin the Box Worldwide – a digital marketing agency like no other.
Not many companies I know would let their employees go on
a 4-month leave to work on their dream project. They even let me take my office
laptop and internet data stick. What more, they even covered my medical
insurance while I was travelling, not that I had to use it. But it still felt
reassuring that your company’s got your back and even has kept your job intact
to be resumed after the trip.
Ever since I got back from the trip, I have been having
pangs of ‘Do I really want to do this?’ and ‘What if there is more to life than
this?’ The boss helped. He gave me a weekend to decide whether or not I want to
do my creative thinking and writing job. It wasn’t fair to my work or my
workplace if I wasn’t able to give it my entire attention. I put in my papers.
It is a huge risk.
Dad retires this year. My sister’s in college. There is
rent and a lot of other bills I must take care of as a responsible son.
My colleagues ask me where I am going. Usually, the
expected answer is competition – similar agencies. I say, home…I am going home.
They take it as if I have been living away from home…but
will now go home for sometime before I begin at my next office.
To add to their confusion, I have been saying things
like, “You know, all this marketing and social media seems so hollow to me.”
*blank*
“I feel as if this is not helping anyone in real life…the
work I am doing does not make anybody’s life easier.”
They nod, seeming to understand.
“So you want to be a NGO?”
“How can I be a…nvm…”
It’s not that I don’t have a plan. I do. It is just too
scattered.
I am an artist, I do upcycled paper art. I plant trees
for myself and for others. I conduct environmental programmes for students.
There is a lot that can be done that a full time job will
not allow one to do. True, I might not be able to earn as much. I might not
have an air-conditioned office. Hell, I might not even have an office!
But I will
be doing what I want to do and much more.
