Write about a time when you didn’t take action but wish you had. What would you do differently?

When I worked for a raging narcissist, I wish I had quit sooner. I wish I had listened to my gut the first day I walked in, and I wish I had started looking for other jobs. I knew right away that it was going to be chaotic and that this was a place that was not running well.

At the time, I took it on as a challenge and kept telling myself that if I quit, I failed. When I think of that, I wish I would have had a different mindset about that at the time. It is not failing to leave a toxic environment. It is not failing if you only stay at a job for a few weeks, because your boss is emotionally unstable and abusive. I knew I easily could have found another job, but I had it in my head that I started this job so now I need to prove that I could do it.

At least now I have learned a lot of lessons from that job (and others), and I am much more aware and confident in my ability to stand up when I am being talked down to. I’m learning that I do have a voice and I deserve to be heard, and I am 100% allowed (and encouraged) to speak up when I am feeling uncomfortable. As much as I wish I hadn’t stayed at that job so long, I took valuable lessons from that place.