We're all going to leave the job we have; it's only a matter of time. Yet, for some reason, we've been made to believe that you're not supposed to talk about it.
You're not supposed to interview while employed. You're not supposed to tell your boss you're considering other options. You're not supposed to acknowledge, in any way, that you might one day want something different.
That is a system designed to serve the organization, not the individual. And a lot of people have internalized it as though it were a moral code.
Career transitions are not betrayals. They are not signs of disloyalty or weakness or failure to commit. They are a natural part of building a life and a career that actually fits who you are becoming.
The best careers I have ever seen are not the ones where someone stayed at the same company for thirty years out of obligation. They are the ones where someone made deliberate choices about where to invest their time and energy at each stage of their growth.
When you leave a job well — with integrity, with gratitude for what you learned, with genuine care for the people you worked alongside — that is something to be celebrated, not stigmatized.
Let's normalize the conversation. Let's normalize the fact that outgrowing a role is a sign of growth, not ingratitude. Let's normalize the goodbye as a natural part of the journey, not a scandal.
You are allowed to want more. You are allowed to move on. And you are allowed to talk about it.