Dear GGG, I currently work in editorial, but I’ve been feeling a bit stagnant in my position. So, I looked around and found a new position at a company close to home (I currently have a two hour door-to-door commute). It’s more in marketing than editorial. I was offered and accepted the position.  The new job involves a $15k pay cut, but I can make up the difference in freelancing (I think) and it’s a five minute commute from my apartment.

After telling my boss, she was upset and said she really wants me to stay. She offered to reduce my workload, gave me raise on the spot, and a small amount of equity in the company. She even said the company would pay for quicker form of commuting and has offered to change the structure around my job so that it’s more bearable. She also encouraged me to stick it out for 6 months. In the midst of all this, I’m planning my wedding.

I’m at a crossroads. Should I take my company’s counteroffer, or move on?

—Bethany, Los Angeles 

Dear Bethany,

It’s a tough call. You’re in an enviable position to have both a job offer on the table and a respectable counter offer from your current company. Without knowing more details about your happiness level at the current job (yes, happiness at work matters!), my gut would say to stay at your current job because they really, really want you to stay.  I would consider two things: first, it will probably be easier to plan the wedding in a job where you already have built up some equity and they are now bending over backwards to be flexible. Second, if you switch to marketing now, it may be difficult (though not impossible) to switch back. I’m a big believer that our careers are, as Pattie Sellers says, a jungle gym, not a ladder, so making a move to a marketing role could be better in the long run. It’s a risk you have to be willing to take.

That said, I think you have to trust your gut and meditate on it. Literally, meditate for twenty minutes in the morning and at night for a few days until an answer emerges. Do what you feel in your heart is best and no regrets.  It will work out either way.