Uh-Oh Moment

I'm sure you've heard of an "aha!" moment. It's a moment of clarity, a defining moment where you gain real, life-changing wisdom.

Sounds pretty good, no?

I would very much like to tell you that I had an "aha!" moment. Unfortunately, my monikered  moment was the "aha!" moment's unwelcome cousin: the "uh-oh" moment.

It isn't news that I'm not terribly happy at the company I'm currently working for. I know I've mentioned it before and there will soon be a post on their latest rage inducing actions. But I've always maintained that it's worth sticking it out. There are some really great benefits to this contract, benefits I will unlikely prosper from again and should therefore prosper from for as long as I can. While not working much bothers me, we do receive unemployment pay when we're in between dates. There is only a year left on my contract (or maybe not, but that's another post), and it's worth having that extra income coming in.

But what does that have to do with my "uh-oh" moment?

I was browsing my Facebook feed and kept reading about the circus exploits of friends and colleagues. People performing in Moscow, winning festivals, landing jobs with awesome companies... Then suddenly, it hit me.

My career has stagnated and it's because I have stayed with this company for so long. I need to get out.

When I first got hired I was super stoked by the idea of having four years of job security. But seeing as my company doesn't work too much and mostly sticks to France, I feel as though I have fallen into obscurity. Even though we don't work often (in my opinion anyway), somehow there has always been an overlap in dates whenever other work possibilities have come. As a result, there's really only that one gig on my CV from 2009 to present.

I don't want to go back in March and recent events have only intensified that feeling. At this point, there's so little time left it's not even worth leaving. By the time they found and trained a replacement for me, the tour would be over. It took eight months from the time C announced that she wanted to leave and the time her replacement started. And the way things are going, we could just as easily finish in August as December.

I've started taking steps to get on new projects. I just hope they work out, and that I'm not jumping ship too late.