🫘 Not May Day: Beans There, Done That – Pipeaway Newsletter #214

Hi from Sljeme!

Climbing mountains always feels therapeutic to me, not just when I lose dear friends.

In the absence of Biokovo, a mountain rising from the sea of the Makarska Riviera, home to my job that was not meant to be, Zagreb hill jumps in to heal my mind at the career crossroads.

The hike to the mountain lodge Puntijarka took two hours, and there, before climbing another 40 minutes to the top of Medvednica, I made a fuel stop and treated myself to their famous baked beans.

Croats associate eating beans with mountain hikes, but another special occasion to include beans in one’s diet is also the International Workers’ Day – May 1.

I’m welcoming this week’s May Day unemployed or – as they euphemistically call it on LinkedIn – between jobs.

After I shared the news that I quit my Guest Experience Manager job in a newsletter, a reader responded with celebratory language.

“Congratulations on your decision to leave your job”, Kevin wrote. “And thanks for not only the update but the journey to secure this job. Not always an easy decision, but I have also learned to trust one’s judgement and intuition.”

I have read the same “congratulations!” word when I asked some AI model to offer comments on my resignation letter.

Whether it comes from friendly humans or just polite machines, I must say I love this rephrasing of the situation and the way we are allowed to look at it. While many people I know reacted with a courteous “I’m so sorry it didn’t work out”, I adored the perspective shift that practically expressed “I’m so happy for you!”.

We don’t encounter this undefeated point of view enough in our daily conversations, I believe. Leaving environments by choice is indeed a piece of good news, even if the decision was a hard one. It’s still a decision that breaks the shackles and sets us free for something else.

What could that “something else” be?

How about becoming a professional masseur? In Chiang Mai, I joined a Thai Massage course for a day – you can read all about this adventure in my newest Pipeaway article.

Should I circle back to one of my previous 9 lives? Should I resurrect on TV? In a circus? At a hotel?

Or… OnlyFans?

I already mentioned that Borut Veselko, the Slovenian TV chameleon of professions who tried many, co-shaped my excitement for the job market as a creative playground. That certainly doesn’t mean I can’t see myself going back to the type of jobs I stayed loyal to for up to 13 years, establishing myself as an expert rather than an experimenter. But I’m also fond of the idea that we are actually free to outdare societal expectations and try anything once.

I honestly love the unladen freedom that, after reaping Croatian journalism awards, one can end up choosing the job of, let’s say, a garbage collector in Switzerland. I’m not saying my interest goes that way. But never say never.

If you want to jump in with professional orientation thoughts, I’m always happy to hear them out. Or, even better: if you have a perfect project for a creative shapeshifter like myself – hire me?

In any case, all is fine. Mountains are nice. Beans are tasty. And I am celebrating.

Have a relaxed workers’ week,

Ivan Kralj    
Pipeaway.com

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Ivan Kralj

Editor

Award-winning journalist and editor from Croatia