If anyone were to ask me whether I regret leaving TikTok, I would say no. TikTok taught me what I didn’t want in work and that was critical to my future.
I’ve grown up thinking that my definition of success meant to be professionally better than others. To be more able to get the job done. To be on my feet and always be the fastest to new opportunities. To navigate the office politics more elegantly. But all of that was untrue. After being thrown into an environment where all of this was necessary to ensure survival, I realized the faultiness of all my previous values.
I didn’t seek work that allowed me to be better than others. I sought one in which the work I did deserved praise.
I didn’t seek work that let me get the job done, I sought roles where others could depend on me to get the job done.
I didn’t seek work that allowed me to beat others to new opportunities, I wanted work the constantly offered it.
Lastly, I didn’t want to just navigate politic elegantly, but I wanted to navigate it fairly.
All these lessons I wouldn’t have learned had I not joined TikTok. One by one, I was able to go down my checklist wondering whether losing one would still be ok. That with just a few of these legs, I would still be able to stand. But one by one they went away. And slowly, I found that I wasn’t supported by these beliefs at all.