I sat there, just thinking. Several times over I had asked myself, “Why am I here? Am I cut out for this? What should I do?”

I’d reached a point where my professional growth had come to an abrupt halt. I’d spent seven years chasing the dream job between school, academy, volunteer work and employment. And there I was, a fireman with six years on the job, second-guessing if this was even the right career for me.

It was a multitude of reasons, but ultimately a clashing of personalities combined with the feeling that I just couldn’t do anything right was pretty discouraging. I needed a change, as my current station wasn’t where I needed to be. I wasn’t going to leave the job, but I was still in my own head, questioning what I was doing there.

It’s never been in my nature to quit anything. And quitting has a negative connotation of running away from your problems. I’ve never been that guy.

I had options, but even a transfer seemed like I was quitting a challenge that I was no longer willing to step up to. I needed a reframe, and badly.

I realized if I had stayed where I was, not only would I continue to be unhappy (both at work and at home), but I also would have continued to remain stagnant. It just wasn’t an environment conducive to my professional growth.

I made a decision, and over three years later it’s proven over and over that it was the right one. I just needed to get past the idea that I was quitting something, because that isn’t what it was.

So therein lies the question:

How do you exit an undesirable situation if you aren’t the type to quit?

Enter the “pivot.”

You need to reframe the scenario. You aren’t going to quit; you’re going to pivot. And you need to come to terms with the fact that although you aren’t quitting, you still need to make an important decision.

One hand, you stay where you are — unhappy and loathing your daily life because don’t want to be a quitter. On the other, you have an understanding that making this pivot is necessary to secure your growth and ultimately your sanity.

You aren’t quitting because things are getting too hard. You’re pivoting because you realize your current position is no longer sustainable.

Do you really want to stunt your growth, stay unhappy, and remain in a place the universe is telling you to leave because you’re afraid of being a “quitter?” It’s pretty trivial when you put it that way.

Next time you’re faced with a difficult decision and quitting crosses your mind, I challenge you to affirm “I am embracing this positive change.”

Put the positivity out there.