Resigned

I submitted my resignation at work today, and I couldn't feel more relieved.  My boss's response was different than anything I've ever received before.  No thank you for increasing fundraising 150% over the last year or any nod to my service.  Instead, it was just an awkward "well, we'll...well, it is what it is."  I chuckled and replied, "yes, it is."

Huh?!  Such an unexpected and fairly priceless response is exactly what I should have expected.  This is a moment in which I thank my lucky stars that academics don't give a sh*t about references from non-academic sources.  'Cause I definitely will not be leaving this job with a reference, and nor would I let the crazy people I've worked with on the supervisory level to attest to my character or capacity in any situation.  

It feels so good to submit a resignation.  Not because I felt like I stuck it to anybody or anything like that.  Clearly they will find someone who is less opinionated and less strong-willed than me to take my place since most of my struggles have been accusations that point toward insubordination.  It feels good because I no longer have to surrender myself to the purview of people that I do not respect and who clearly do not respect me.

Funny enough, the word resignation means to give up, abdicate, surrender, acquiesce.  I find that resigning in this day in age is actually quite the opposite.  The daily grind is a daily resignation of surrendering your time, responsibilities, and subjective judgement of your performance to a superior in the workplace whose assessment has great potential to be purely based on his/her perception rather than on a true understanding of one's abilities.  

Resignation to me feel like liberty and freedom.  The opposite of acquiesce is to go forward, and this is what resignation really feels like.  Forward momentum.