My Day

My husband is leaving for two days. I am in my final days of eating and I have a list of things that I HAVE to get done before my surgery. However, I came to a conclusion yesterday.

My former dream job is open. It is the same position I had at OWU except that it is at SWU. And, interestingly, three of my favorite families in the world are all now living in the same town as SWU and most of have family members that are either working or attending the school. So, when I saw it I had a sudden urge to apply, I began to get crabby, as I am now married, have a family (understatement) and live far, far away from South Carolina.

But thinking about this kind of got me out of my deep funk (that and LOTS of inspirational music like the song I posted yesterday, some prayer, and a personal butt-kicking that was both God and self-imposed). I began to think, first of all, about the fact that college students are now part of the millenial generation. The very important things that I loved about working with the Gen X kids that I did 20 years ago, things like creativity and the love for socialization, are fading. Technology and the media have so influenced this next generation, that I“m not sure I would enjoy working with them.

I also began to think about meetings. Right now, I am able to work very hard and be very successful (and make enough money to make it worth it) in my very own home. I do not have to go to meetings. I do not have to be worried about Board Members and other coworkers who might not like the way I dress or the way I act in public. I can set my own schedule and do not have to be regulated by anyone.

I thought, too, about interruptions. I have learned, by spending the last few years working from home, that an office setting is one of the worst places to get anything done. Telephone conversations, as well as those in person, eat up time like nothing else. Visiting, catching up with co-workers, parties for everyone’s birthdays and every major or not so major holiday, and the constant temptation to go out to lunch for an hour or more suck away the day.

If I spent 8 hours working in a day, I spend 8 hours working. I seldom talk on the phone. I never stop by anyone’s cube. Meetings that I have are only the ones that I schedule and they never take much longer than the time I have allotted. I focus and crank out the work hour by hour. It is exhausting but it is so much more rewarding than the days of being at work for 8 hours and getting NOTHING done.

So, my conclusion after my minor pity party, is that I have the best possible arrangement at this time. I may complain about the workload, but I don’t want it any different. I want to be able to sit here, in my pajamas if I like, and crank out the emails and see the results. This past year I broke the all time record at AAN of number of children placed in a year. In fact, I obliterated it. And so the satisfaction that comes in knowing that all kinds of little lives will be changed forever is the final and core reason why I love what I am doing.

So I’m going to shut up, suck up, and get back to work. Sorry for the blip....