Miles Carter
I’m This Close To Quitting My Job
I’m so close to quitting my job
It’s been bothering me for a few weeks now
And I’ve been trying my best to occupy my mind
And work through the hours
But these hours are beginning to feel like days

I swear...
I’m this close to quitting my job

And I’m starting to drink a lot more often than sometimes
I know it’s a bad habit
But it seems I only have a few hours between the time I get off and the time I go in
It’s like I need to maximise this short interlude of freedom I have before I give another day away

But happiness shouldn’t be forced
And this is not what life should be

It’s like I relive the same day over and over
I have the same conversations with the same people
I do the same things for the same amount of time
The monotony is starting to get to me

And the old heads at my job
They boast the time they’ve put in on their shoulders
Five, six, seven years of their lives spent coming to this one place
I don’t know how they’ve done it
I nod and I smile
I know if I told them I couldn’t, they’d tell me I’m lazy
How my generation lacks work ethic
How we want everything handed to us
I don’t think we’re lazy
I think we see the world differently
We’ve come a long way since factories and assembly lines
We’ve been afforded something our mothers and fathers weren’t
Perspective

We see that there’s more to life than what’s directly in front of us
There are mountains to climb
And memories to be made
That life is not something to endure
But something to experience
What’s the use buying a house if you can’t live in it?
What the point buying a car if you only drive it to work?
Why have a wife who doesn’t love you
Or a life you don’t love?

I can see you’re barely comfortable
And you feel cheated
Because you were raised in a world that placed manual labour at its forefront
You weren’t allowed to consider how you felt
Mental health was a myth
And happiness was dismissed
I understand why it’s hard for you to understand that I prioritise my peace over this job
He tells me if I hate it so much
Then go to school
Get a better paying one
I tell him that’s the problem
My time is not something to be monetised
I’ll never get a better paying job because you can’t pay for something that is priceless

And our education system is flawed
We are producing workers to continue age cycles
When we need thinkers to innovate new ones
How can we create a better future when we are only taught to do what has already been done

I refuse to settle for the life that’s been handed to me
Because you wouldn’t accept a cup of water knowing there’s an ocean available
I tell him I’m thinking about quitting
Because it’s been a long time since I’ve had a great time
It’s been a long day and I’m not sure I can manage another one

I tell him I’m leaving
I’ve decided to take life by its handles
I’m gonna create enough art to change my life and yours
I’m gonna see places people dream about

My dreams will exist only to foreshadow my reality
And I’ll venture so far within myself and to every corner of this planet
And everyday will spent doing something that brings me purpose
Even if that something is doing nothing at all
You may call it lazy
But we deserve lives that allow us to wake up everyday doing exactly what we want
I know there’s more to life than what’s been handed to me
I ask God to allow me the life I’ve been given perspective to appreciate
I know this isn’t it for me

So I go to seek my great perhaps
And the beginning of the rest of my life starts with the end of a short phrase

I quit..