Daily Prompt – April 17, 2026

I think every decision we make helps us learn and grow, we just don’t always realize how much. That said, some decisions are more impactful but it can take years to realize how much.

For me, that is the case with deciding to leave working at the hospital. It wasn’t just about getting away from a toxic work environment or not doing the lab work that no longer captured my heart. It was also about walking away from something without a place to go. I didn’t have another job lined up. I was making a move for my health, physical and mental, that had the potential to hurt us financially. It didn’t. I got a job relatively quickly, still lab related but in an area that I had learned I really enjoyed. The area I work in now.

I learned from that experience that it was ok to make that leap of faith. In fact I did it again a few years later when that new job also turned out to be pretty toxic. Fortunately where I am now is amazing. But that’s part of why it takes time to learn from these decisions. When I took that first job after leaving the hospital, I was so excited to get into the place I was working and the area of work that it was, that I didn’t look as closely as I should of at the culture and structure of the department I’d be working in. And honestly it started out ok.

I think lots of jobs start out ok. We need time to realize where the flaws are and whether they can be managed or not. In this case they could not. It was similar to the reasons I left the hospital. But easier to leave this time. One, I had far less loyalty to them. I had been with that hospital system my entire lab career. It was also easier because I recognized the problems a lot sooner and we knew as a family how to manage it. There was a lot less questioning about if I should or if we could manage. It was just like nope, done, I’m out.

So yeah I learned how to walk away from work rather than always just being the good little worker bee suffering through the unreasonable demands of others.