HAVING a workplace best friend is one of the most significant advantages inside the company. Not only does it lessen the weight of the workload, but it also allows you to enjoy bustling office hours.
For some, their workplace best friend is passion. But as they say, not everything is permanent – including their stay.
Take Andrea’s case.
Andrea worked as a lifestyle reporter for a print media company in the metro. She has dreamed of becoming a journalist, and it felt like being a reporter means making her childhood self proud – including the passion that brought her there.
On her first day in the field, she began feeling the weight of her job as a reporter. Andrea was both oblivious and excited about her first legwork. She was persistent in calling her friends about how her day went, including the milestones she did that day – especially field coverage.
Day after day, she started losing touch with her friends. She barely replies to her friends’ messages asking who was the artist she met on that day and what other “first-time encounters” she experienced.
A month into covering lifestyle events, her lifestyle started to erode. After two months of working, she felt that her friend, her passion to be exact, was now taking its toll on her. And by that time, she considered resigning.
In her third month, she resigned and left her workplace best friend, her passion, on hold.
Passion is no friend
During her first day of unemployment, Andrea started to recollect her pieces, including those she had left for her “passion”: friends, romantic connection, and K-pop.
“I felt like my passion is no longer the friend I always wanted. When I entered the field, I started doubting my skills. I never felt appreciated,” Andrea said in Filipino.
Andrea said she loves her job, but she needed to leave for a moment to save her from burnout. She emphasized it’s time to get her life back after her passion betrayed her.
“When I began seeing my friends, going out by myself, and taking photos using my film camera, I started seeing life again. It’s something I never had the chance to do because of the load of my work,” she said.
When asked about her plans after resigning, Andrea said she was puzzled, but watching her favorite K-pop groups GOT7 and EXO and watching Netflix throughout the day kept her motivated about the coming days.
She has also resumed sending TikTok videos that made her day to her friends, producing reels, and replying to old connections she had lost touch with while she was still working.
By then, she realized journalism was just one of her many passions. And she only knew it when she risked leaving her workplace.
Cutting connections
Despite seeing her passion for writing as the most profound connection to keep her sane, Andrea said, “leaving sometimes gives better growth than staying.”
“When it’s not giving you progress, I believe it’s time for you to step away, even if it’s only your passion keeping you going,” said Andrea.
According to Andrea, the biggest lesson she learned from her previous work is that cutting some connections would lead to better realignment, and it gives more opportunities to grow, learn, and meet new connections that provide more fulfillment – and a fresh new start.
