I quit!

[lmd32]

I finally admitted I couldn't do it all (go to school full time, be a single mom, and work). My job is flexible and pays well but what doesn't work for me is

a) the commute: it doesn't make sense to drive 45 minutes one way and only work a couple of hours.

b) (the main reason) It's not the kind of job I can leave at work. Although I'm only working part time, the work still has to get done, and I'm the only one to do it. So, I'm constantly behind. I worry about work all the time when I'm not there and can't live with the fact that I'm doing a crappy job. It sucks to quit, especially because they don't plan to replace me until May but as the saying goes "If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem." As long as they have the illusion that there is someone filling my position, they're not going to replace me.

When I was younger, and working on my first degree, I worked full time nights, went to school in the daytime, and had 2 children under 5. But when I put my resume together for nursing school, I started wondering when the heck I slept. And looking back at pictures of those times gives me the answer that I probably didn't. I'm not so young anymore, don't have a spouse to take up the slack, have a special needs child, and (despite my money/security issues) can survive without a job. So, I took out a student loan and joined the ranks of the unemployed. Okay, I will join the ranks of the unemployed as soon as I get December's work finished. (Oh, please let it be by Christmas!)

[nurse2be in ny]

Lynn,

I'm also a single mom of a special-needs child, and applied to an entry-level master's program to begin in May 2004. It's tough, no matter how you slice it, but I think you did the right thing. I'm not planning on working for the duration of my three-year program, either, and I thank God that I have that option. I don't know how I'd do it otherwise. I'm "not so young" myself! Good luck to you.

[manna, BSN, RN]

My philosophy is - why work if you don't have to? Who needs that extra stress...

The problem with this is, I'm one of those people that HAS to. Boohoo.