While all my friends are away….(Career Change Guide Part Cuatro)

I am writing this while lounging in bed (because of some post work, pre run laziness) with two adorable furry creatures by my side. When I say by my side, I actually mean taking up all of the room on the bed leaving barely a sliver for me to squeeze myself into. It’s been a while since I last wrote so I figured it was time. I don’t have a whole heck of a lot of updates, sadly. But, nothing bad to write about either so that’s a positive. The car is now running smoothly, almost like new! (for all of those interested!)

I can’t believe we are in late September, it has flown by. This month I have spent a lot of my free time caring for the pets of friends while they take amazing European vacations. Two went to Portugal for a 17 day excursion and one is celebrating a big birthday for her mother in Greece. Another, non pet owning, friend is also in Greece for, as he says “a well deserved vacation” even though it’s his third since June 🙂   Let me tell you…after seeing the pictures, Greece has moved it’s way right up to the top of my list of future destinations! The WhatsApp pictures I received today while I was working away in my office are breathtaking.

The other part of my spare time has been spent talking about and thinking about my potential next career. I know I have teased at this a few time and I hate to break it to you, but I’m going to keep teasing for a bit. The guy I have been working with and I are still really ironing out the details and before I give too many, I want to make sure I’m giving you all the facts. We met last week and almost completely changed what our original plan was…so as you can see it’s a work in progress. Despite the change in plan, I think each of us is even more excited than we had been previously.

As part of our meetings and initial stages of developing a business together we are really working on figuring out exactly how we want that business structured. Do we want to give up all of our weekends? Do we want to work crazy hours in tough conditions? Do we want to work in an office? Do we want flexible hours? Do we want to be able to have an office dog? You get the idea, but basically we have challenged each other to come up with our ideal work situation. We’ve decided it is best to lay it all out on the table now before we have anything settled so that we each know what the other is looking for and what we know we do or don’t want to get ourselves in to. And here’s the big reveal…Career Change Guide Part Cuatro: map out your ideal working situation in your head (what do you want your day to look like, what do you want a week to look like, a month, a year; do you want to work in a loose environment or a conservative one). This will help you narrow things down a little bit and definitely help in your job search. If you know this information you can keep it in the back, or front, of your mind as you’re searching.

Now, all of my thinking about an ideal working situation has lead me to the conclusion that no matter what I do, I want to be able to travel…and not only do I want to travel, but I want to write about it (and take pictures of it) and I would LOVE if someone paid me for that (if you have ideas on how to accomplish this, feel free to share)! I am toying with the idea of using my upcoming trip to Argentina and Chile as my first foray into the travel blogging arena. So we shall see how that goes. Who knows, maybe I’ll start and realize that I just want to travel for travel’s sake and not share all of my experiences with the world, though something tells me that won’t be the case!

As part of the process of deterring what I really want out of a job and my new career, I’ve come up with a few things:

• I want a job with flexibility (don’t get me wrong, I still want to work and accomplish things, I would just like to do it on my own time)
• I want a job  that will afford me the lifestyle I have now
• I want a job where I get to experience something different every day (I don’t have the patience and am too inquisitive to have a job where I perform the same functions on the reg)
• I want a job where I can be creative
• I want a job where not only do I interact with people, but I also build relationships and ideally where I can see how what I have done has positively impacted their lives

Now, I won’t bore you with my entire list, but as you embark on making your list here are a few ideas to inspire you. Everyone has different things that fulfill them, mine may not match up exactly with yours and that’s totally fine. You may even look at mine and say “that’s absolutely ridiculous, why would you want to interact with people?” and that’s the beauty in this exercise; you get to see where your strengths, purpose and desires lie compared to those you work with, are friends with, are enemies with (?) or may not even know. I would love it if you could share some of your ideas with me, so feel free to comment away!

Until the next time!

~besos

 

Universal language…

Today my car broke down, or died, that is yet to be determined. I’m hoping its the former….I’m diligent about oil changes and upkeep, I feel like that has to count for something, right? Of course, the second something goes wrong with the car my brain instantly shuts off, especially when my usual go to, shutting the car engine off, has already happened; and not voluntarily I might add. I turned the key about five times and finally, miraculously the engine begins to hum (with a slight rattle, she’s old, what can I say?). Then the next thing I do, is call one of my best guy friends. He is inside the office I’m trying to flee and he knows how to deal with me during minor attacks of nervousness. We decided I should pass go, not collect my two hundred dollars and head directly to my regular auto garage. On the way there everything seemed to be fine; please note, I had not yet made it out of the street of the office park. I was sitting at the light waiting to turn and then sputter, sputter, quiet. She’s gone and died again. So much so that I couldn’t even put my flashers on. A few calls later, I managed to sweet talk a tow truck driver into coming to get me. For all of you wondering, I will be getting AAA tomorrow!

I am not the kind of person who worries about normal stuff, like the fact that I’m probably going to have to dole out a boatload of cash and I’m inconvenienced by the fact that I don’t have a car…no, I worry about the fact that people are trying to leave work and my car is stuck in a lane hindering their progress. I get stressed out thinking that I might be causing someone else stress because they may have to wait through one extra light.

Thankfully, my new hero arrived about 20 minutes after I called. He looked a little rough around the edges, had glorious locks far curlier, thicker and longer than mine, and was clearly adept at his job, within minutes we were riding along Briarcliff in his tow truck. He spoke Spanish, allowed me to eavesdrop (one of my favorite hobbies) and dished out fatherly wisdom; it was a lovely ride. And then, my day got even luckier than the speedy pick up he had already given me. He forgot to tell me it was a cash only business so he was going to give me a discount to pay with a card at the garage, who would in turn give him his money. BUT, and here’s the lucky part, my friend (see above) who came to pick me up happened to have cash on him and I was able to pay Victor, the tow truck driver, in cash. He took $5 less than he initially quoted me, probably because it was easier for him to take the cash and run. During the transaction he said “that’s fine, there’s no sense in being greedy…it never gets you anywhere.” And that really made me think. He’s so right..in the long run is that $5 going to make or break his day? Most likely it won’t. But, that man got to go home with more money than he expected to make today, made the situation far less stressful for me and left me feeling like there really are some decent people out there (because I wonder about that a lot).

In addition to his comment about greediness never getting you anywhere, tonight on social media someone posted that the universe only gives you as much as you can handle. These two comments seemed to sum up my day today. The latter is something I always believe to be true. I believe that we are given what we have the strength to handle and also that somehow, someway, the things we are most in need of make their way into our lives. They may not always be in the quantity we want or be right in front of our faces but if you start paying attention to this more closely, I think you will be pleasantly surprised by what you find. Now that I’ve been introduced to this new thought about greediness, I’m really excited to put this sentiment into practice. I totally agree with him and am shocked that I haven’t considered this before. Once again, the universe is providing advice in the strangest of ways as I continue my journey to finding my purpose.

There’s some hump day wisdom for you…maybe you’ve had a rough week and now can look around for little signs that will make it better. I assure you that once you start doing it, the most amazing things will happen!

Until the next time!

~besos

When we were young…

Yesterday a good friend sent me a link to the Top 37 Things You’ll Regret When You’re Old. It was a really interesting read and I realized that some of the items on the list pertain to me right now. My friend has been doing a lot of introspection lately because he just entered the last year of his 30s, so I wasn’t a bit surprised that he was looking things like this up. I’m really glad that he sent it though because it gives a lot of food for thought. And, more importantly, it let me know that there are some changes I can make now that will hopefully allow me to look back when I’m older and know that I did it right and made mine the best life possible. Screw waiting ’til later and looking back in regret…let’s tackle this stuff head on now!!

There are things on this list that I look at and even in my 34 years on earth know how happy they’ve made me. Like travel, I absolutely adore traveling. I love seeing new places, meeting new people, trying new food (ok, that’s a new one and I’m still working on it, but thought I would put it out there!), having new experiences and just in general seeing everything out there that I possibly can. Yes, I may make terrible money decisions and could probably use some of the money I save for travel to pay off a little credit card debt, but where’s the fun in that! Pictures of my dwindling credit card balance aren’t nearly as powerful or memorable as pictures of me visiting the land from whence my ancestors hail.

Another item on that list I am so happy I stuck with is learning another language. Sure, I always wish that I could take more Spanish lessons or practice with a native speaker more. But, for now I can get by (once I let go of my fear of making a mistake) and certainly have the ability to eavesdrop on Spanish speakers’ conversations with the best of them…and let me tell you, sometimes it can be hilarious! And some day, I will get myself back to Spanish lessons…but in the meantime, I’ll continue to listen to my Spanish music and eavesdrop on the people I hear around me! 🙂

Volunteering is always something that my parents and I did; it was never looked at as something we had to do, it was something we wanted to and enjoyed doing. And, it’s something I do to this day. There are so many times and situations that I wish I could do more or give more (see poor money management above) but I think people get so much more out of my time than they ever would out of my money. I have met some wonderful people through volunteering and had some really cool experiences that I wouldn’t change for the world. And I like to think that there are people out there who hopefully had better days because of time I spent with them or something I helped them do.

Now don’t get me wrong, there are certainly items on that list that I need to work on like realizing how beautiful I am, not standing up for myself or not holding a grudge…and I know eventually I will improve in all those areas, but for now the best thing I can do for myself is to not beat myself up for not being perfect. Which is also something I’m working on. I will tell you, once I told myself that it’s ok to be a work in progress, things got a lot easier!

I urge you to take a look at that list and see what little changes you can make today so that when you look back on your life in ten, 20 or 30 years you will think, “man, I really kicked some ass and lived an awesome life!!”

And to my dear friend who sent me this link, to you I say ‘obrigada meu amigo!’

Until next time, my friends!

`besos

 

 

 

Talk nerdy to me (Career Change Guide Part Tres)

August is already starting off better than July. I decided to try this eating program called Whole30, to reboot my career change search, really trying to work out more and best of all I am currently on a staycation!! Basically, I’m trying to get myself to the best “me” possible while on my journey to my purpose. If I’m going to get where I need and want to be, I might as well look good and feel good along the way. Woot woot!!

As part of rebooting my career change search, I reached out to an old friend who always seems to have fun and interesting jobs. We touched base on Thursday, as I was sitting poolside while on my staycation (sorry, I had to!). She gave me some great insight and told me about different places to look for opportunities, different tactics she’s used and even told me that she would go through her “mental rolodex” to see who she could put me in contact with. One of the things she and I talked about is that fact that when you’re going through this process, it is really important to talk to anyone you can think of and even try to figure out new people to talk to. Though, as I mentioned in a previous post, it can be overwhelming because basically everyone you talk to wants to help or give advice, it’s really important to cast your search net wide. So, here’s your Career Change Advice Part Tres: Talk to anyone and everyone you can about your desire to change careers. You really just never know who may have advice or who someone may know. So that said, it’s August and I’m back on the hunt again….my career search has been officially rebooted!

Now, for some other fun stuff. I am doing the Whole30 for 30 days in August to reboot my system. I’ve felt kind of sluggish in the afternoons at work, which could be due to many things (boredom, the heat, a general lack of desire to be there) and I wanted to figure out something to combat that. I’ve had some friends do Whole30 and decided I would give it a shot. Additional benefits are said to include clearer skin, better sleep, a clearer mind and weight loss…and who couldn’t use any of that!? So, on Monday August 1, I commenced a 30 day adventure into clean, whole food eating. From what I’ve heard it’s best to do this with a support system, so I recruited a friend and then another joined…and it has been really nice to have others who are doing it. And, I’ve made some food from the book and I have to say everything I have made has been amazing; the other night I cooked Thai Coconut Curry Chicken!! So hold tight, you’ll likely get updates as the month goes on!

I started this post on Friday and had some technical difficulties….so here’s a bit more for you. As part of my desire to get back into fitness, I used my staycation to try a few new fitness classes. I did a Barre class at Pink Barre on Friday and an Abs and Arms class at Fit2Be on Saturday…and I LOVED both. Doing them actually has me thinking about getting Class Pass so that I can continue with my kick ass fit fam at Vesta Movement, but also shake it up a bit with some other exercises that will help elongate and loosen me up!

And now I’m off to a walk in the park with some friends! Enjoy your Sunday everyone!

Until next time!

~besos

Take Me (out of) Funktown

Greetings friends! Sorry I’ve been M.I.A. for so long….quite honestly, I haven’t really known what to write. I’ve been in a bit of a funk. It’s been a pretty disappointing, boring month. I came in to it with high hopes; I was participating in my all time favorite race, The Peachtree Road Race and then hosting a 4th of July party, I was waiting to hear back from someone about an exciting, prospective career opportunity, I was hoping to plan some travel, among other things. None of it really worked out the way I had planned or thought it would. And the disappointment, mixed in with the general state of “full moon-ness” that seems to be running rampant these days bought me a ticket on the express to Funktown.

Don’t get me wrong it hasn’t been awful, just not really what I was hoping for. I’ve also done some really awesome stuff….like The Peachtree Road Race with a great friend and running buddy, spending time with a friend wandering the neighborhood watching fireworks, wine night with my wine group gals, kayaking the Broad River with my wine group gals, a house concert, a fancy pants dinner at a newish restaurant with a friend. Basically, I have nothing to complain about, because the good clearly outweighs the bad, but in my current situation in Funktown, sometimes it’s hard to remember that. Deep down, I know that I have it pretty good….what I’m dealing with are totally what people call “first world problems” but they are the problems I know at the moment.

I think putting things out to the universe works, so I’ve been trying to do that…I would like to get out of the city for a bit and may actually have an opportunity to do so this weekend; and the other things I’ve put out there like figuring out what to do with my life, my career change, meeting a nice guy, those will all come. I’m happy with baby steps right now and getting away with some friends who I always have lots of laughs and good times with is a start. (fingers crossed it happens!) And, although it sounds weird, the disappointments I’ve been dealing with this this past month, have really taught me a lot about myself and others; and also about what I need to work on to take ownership of my feelings and the way I handle things.

In other news, I’m jumping back on the career search wagon. I have a good lead and am really hoping something comes of it. If it comes to fruition it would be an awesome opportunity for me that will utilize a lot of my skills. In the meantime, the thought of it and the excitement of it is really helping me get through my current workdays. I’m still working with my coach and trying to figure things out so that I don’t “put all of my eggs in one basket” so to speak.

So that’s it for now….onward and upward and trying to exit Funktown! Until next time!

~besos

Victory! (regardless of size, I’ll take it)

As you all know I’ve been working with a career coach for the past few months and she is awesome. Not only does she help with career “stuff” but she also offers a lot of other awesome inspirational ideas. The most recent things we have been doing is called the 100 Day Gong Challenge. I won’t bore you with all of the details (mainly because I can only remember parts of the root of the challenge and I don’t want to give half truths!) but the crux of it is to challenge yourself to do something or not do something for 100 days. You can select as many or as few things as you want. Once you start, you are to do (or not do) whatever you have selected for 100 days straight. Here’s the catch, if you miss a day, you start from the beginning again; how’s that for motivation!

When I first heard the idea I was pumped, I was going to stop drinking during the week, do 20 minutes of exercise five days a week, write three things I am grateful for everyday, do yoga once a week, cook at least three meals a week, do 100 crunches a day and spend 10 minutes a day organizing/cleaning…oh and cure the world of cancer, save all the puppies, eat only whole foods which I picked from the earth, feed all the homeless…blah blah blah. So basically, I was really eager and overzealous. I was trying to keep up with the others participating and realized after a lot of thought that I was setting myself up for failure. So, I decided on a more manageable three things: write down three things I am grateful for everyday, do 100 crunches everyday and spend 10 minutes organizing/cleaning. And, you know what, so far I have done it, EVERY DAMN DAY!!

Although some days it is a HUGE pain in the ass…I have found that I really enjoy it. I’ve learned a lot about myself in this whole process as well. Like, the motivation to get out of bed once I’ve snuggled in for the night to do my crunches/organizing/writing is really high when I think of having to start from the beginning again, which tells me that I’m not quitter. I already knew this, but sometimes a reminder is nice. I have also learned that clearly I’m not doing my crunches correctly because this stubborn stomach pouch just isn’t getting any smaller, but regardless I do it everyday (isn’t the definition of insanity doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results?). I found that the 10 minutes of organization/cleaning, which I thought was going to be the hardest, is actually something I was pretty much doing anyway. I know that must come as a shock to those of you who know me and know how cluttery I am! Looks like next challenge I will have to bump that 10 minutes up a bit. Though I will say that since I’ve started there have been only one or two nights when I went to bed and there were dishes in the sink. To me, that is a coup! And most importantly, I realized that my cup runneth over with things to be grateful for; some days I have far more than three things to write down. Now, if thinking about how much you have to be grateful for isn’t a great way to end the day, then I don’t know what is!

For anyone who is interested in potentially doing a Gong Challenge with me starting in September, let me know and let’s do it!!

Today, I noticed another thing about this challenge. It has made me realize that even doing a little something is better than nothing at all. Por ejemplo: my legs are still a little sore from the Peachtree Road Race on Monday and because of my muscle issues, I didn’t want to risk them being really sore tomorrow by going to kickboxing tonight. So, I went to yoga at lunch with some co-workers (they offer free one hour yoga classes in my office on Wednesdays) to work out some of the kinks and at least get some activity. Then, I got home and realized that I felt SUPER lazy. So, instead of just laying on the couch and watching Ellen (one of my guilty pleasures), I got up off the couch and dusted off my 21 day fix workout DVD and found the Upper Body workout. These darn legs aren’t going to hold me back! So I sweated it out for the next 30 minutes and finished up feeling much better about myself. It wasn’t much and it definitely wasn’t the workout I would get at Vesta Movement (my kickboxing gym) but it was worth it and gave me a little boost to get through the evening.

And my victory for the day taught me that no matter how small the act you think you are making is, the impact can carry a lot of weight. Little steps eventually lead to great rewards and that is something I need to keep in mind as I continue along this journey to find my purpose.

PS: As I’m writing this, I was inspired by my own words (that seems weird, I’m sure it is, but I’m going with it) and text a friend of mine who is always up for a morning run. So she’ll be ringing me from the gate at 6am tomorrow morning to head out for a run!

~besos

Know when to hold ’em, know when to fold ’em (Career Change Guide Part Dos)

Sorry it’s been awhile, I was on vacation and then trying to get acclimated back to the working world… and I was at a bit of a loss with what to write. Trust me, spending days at the beach and nights at the decks is definitely something I could get used to, like right now. But, alas those days will have to be saved for summer vacations in the 603. And the real world is upon me. I’ve decided to use this post as Career Change Guide Part Dos. Mainly because, although its a bit stream of consciousness (more than normal), I think it has an important message.

I’ve been overwhelmed lately. I guess it wouldn’t be fair to invite you into my world and my journey if I don’t plan to be entirely honest, so there it is. Figuring life out is overwhelming. Especially, when you’re trying to be (selectively) open about it and have a lot of people in your life who look out for you and love you and want to give advice. Advice that you have solicited. So although I came back from vacation feeling refreshed; I also came back a bit homesick, feeling a little lonely and feeling a lot overwhelmed with trying to figure out my life and career. I had a meeting with my coach on Tuesday and I was totally unprepared. When I took a vacation, I basically took a vacation from everything. And that included a “break” from my journey. I use quotes because although I didn’t complete any of my assignments including all the research I was supposed to do, I did talk to people about my future and solicited their thoughts. Now, it’s time to start trying to process all of the awesome information and great advice I have received.

After having a few pity parties for myself and feeling blah and overwhelmed, I was not looking forward to my call on Tuesday. And we talked about my least favorite subject, dating. It was totally my choice and at the moment it felt like the lesser of two evils. Dating or Career. So we talked about dating, had some laughs, and then I told her stories about some random dudes I’ve met; like the TreeHouse Masters guys I started chatting with at a Braves game a few weeks ago. After they told me what they did (worked on the TreeHouse Masters TV show), I awkwardly let them know I don’t have cable and have never seen it, oh but wait, I have seen a commercial. Yep, and we wonder why I’m still single! 🙂 One of these TreeHouse Masters dudes, upon hearing where I am from, immediately lifted up his shirt to show me his State of Massachusetts, “Live Free or Die” and State of New Hampshire tattoos, which may actually have trumped my previous awkward comment. So despite my reticence to talk to my coach on Tuesday, it ended up being a rather humorous conversation.  All of this to say  (after my sidebar) that although I still got overwhelmed, I trusted my gut and took a step back. And that act was then confirmed by a professional….it’s kind of nice when you make a wise move, isn’t it!?

So, if you’re in my position, if you’re feeling overwhelmed, take a step back and give yourself a break, like I said above “know when to fold ’em” (I think that means, know when to take a break-not really up on the poker terms here). You’re not quitting, you’re putting yourself on the bench for a breather. Cut yourself some slack. You’re already making it through life and you know what, that’s a pretty awesome feat. And every once in a while you deserve a break. So there ya go, part dos. Part Dos: KNOW WHEN TO FOLD ‘EM (aka, know when to give yourself a break).

~Besos

 

PS-I promise my nest post will be far better organized! Thanks for your patience with my being overwhelmed!

 

 

These are a few of my favorite things….

Anyone and everyone who knows me knows that I am a HUGE The Sound of Music fan. Big Al, my dad, and I watch it every Christmas and I think he looks forward to it just as much as I do! One of the songs I love the most is ‘My Favorite Things’ and I love it for so many reasons. Favorite things can be small or large, living or non-living basically anything you want…and if you’re anything like me, they change quite frequently. One of the other things I love about that song is that Maria shares her favorite things, she doesn’t just hoard them for herself; she announces sings to the world what they are. And I love.to.do that! I love to share all of the things I love; the things I randomly find or the things I’ve had forever that are tried and true. I enjoy randomly gifting them to people or not so randomly (birthdays, weddings, showers, etc) gifting them to people. I also love to put them together and make a themed gift. Ok, clearly there’s a lot of love going around here with my favorite things…come on thesaurus help me now!

Anyway, as I have been working with my coach, we spend a lot of time talking about things I enjoy doing that others may find challenging or just down right tedious. And what I have found is that it is amazing to realize how many things that I do or that I enjoy doing and don’t get to do enough are actual SKILLS! And I’ve realized that I have more than I realized. In assessing my skills (which she often refers to as gifts) and trying to determine how I can transform these into more, I have found that a lot of the things I enjoy doing could actually translate into great services for people.

This is where things become interactive and I need your help. I have thought of a few services:

1. Gift buying/packaging services: purveyor of unique and interesting gifts for your loved ones (client will complete a short survey about your giftee and then I will scour local stores, larger stores and the interwebs for the perfect gift/gifts for your loved one).I seem to have a knack for finding some random stuff out there, so you can rest assured that there will be no basic gifts given.                                                                          *Still trying to nail down some more specifics, so if there is anything you can think of that you would love to outsource…lemme know!
2. Assistance with trip planning and the occasional trip guidance. One of my favorite things is to find under-explored destinations, off the beaten path side trips and generally fun, new places to visit. And then, putting those together in a way that people can explore the world and have new adventures.

Now that I’ve given you a few of my ideas, I’m hitting you up for a few of yours. Are there any services that you would like to outsource (ie, have done for you) that you are willing to pay for? Any and all suggestions are welcome….I’m still in purpose discovery stage and constantly trying to think of new ideas myself. Or what are some of your favorite things? Maybe there’s something I haven’t thought of yet!

Thanks for all of your support and help with this as I make my way along my journey!

Oh! One more thing…please look for the “follow me” little pop up at the bottom right of the page. And feel free to pass this along to any and all of your friends!

~besos!

 

All we need is love, love is all we need

I’m struggling a bit a lot with what to write this week; it seems like anything I come up with will feel so insignificant compared to the events of last weekend and everything that is being discussed right now. I thought I had figured out a way to neatly bring my week’s post full circle while expressing my feelings about the senseless act in Orlando, but after writing and reading and starting paragraph three a million time, I have decided to wait until tomorrow to post about my journey this week. Below, just a few of my thoughts.

Being an Ally, I am extra sensitive to how this horrific act has affected my typically strong, sure and confident friends. On Sunday morning, as we were all waking up from sleeping off the fun of Saturday night,  which many of us spent at least part of dancing at Mary’s, I was saddened by the number of messages I received from these boys; these sweet, kind, loving, fun, strong, smart boys. They were reaching out to me as a safe haven to share their feelings, confess the number of tears they had shed and just have someone to talk to, even if my only responses were, “I love you” and “I don’t understand.” Yes I am sad, yes I am angry, really angry and no, I haven’t been able to make sense of this act. But, the one thing I am sure of is that my friends and the whole LGBT will overcome this. That this happened during this month of historical victories for their community to me is a sign that they will have one more thing to celebrate next year-their strength as a community to overcome. They have already accomplished so much and overcome so much, I hope that their community and their allies can look back on all of the other obstacles and use those as fuel to prove that they can move forward. I refuse to give any credence to the one, singular, selfish man who completed this heinous crime, instead I am choosing to focus on the positive message I have been seeing everywhere from Facebook to news outlets: love is love is love is love is love is love is love is love is love. And really, isn’t that what everyone needs and wants to get through the day?

 

 

They’ll take your soul if you let them…

But don’t you let them…

Last week was an extremely challenging week from a work perspective and I let it beat me. I was grumpy, agitated, and basically all around pissed. From having to deal with trust issues in a current boss situation to still being haunted by a recent bully boss, I struggled with how to remain dedicated to the cause while feeling like all the forces I’m trying to work with are working against me. And I let that get to me, I let them and their both lack of response and negative responses get the better of me. Then…I was even more annoyed because I was annoyed that I allowed them to get to me, I think we all know that feeling! But then on Thursday things turned around. I went to see an amazing musical, Beautiful, with a ticket that was kindly and generously given to me by a virtual stranger, a friend’s mother, a woman I’ve met once. I had dinner at a delicious restaurant, Baroanda, with some wonderful friends. We enjoyed great food, service, wine and lots of laughs and then the night ended with a great performance at the Fabulous Fox Theater!

Now, I may be 34 but at times I feel as though I was born in the wrong decade.  I have the figure of someone who would have killed it fashion wise in the “Mad Men” era and despite my unfaltering love of everything Jay-Z, music of my parent’s youth has always found its way into my collection. Last week, the lyrics of Carole King (through her musical) spoke to me. Actually, her whole story spoke to me especially given my journey to find my purpose. After a 12 year relationship with a man who expected a lot of her but still wanted to get his jollies and do what he wanted, she’d had enough and finally ventured out on her own and did things her way. This story range very true to my own experience (just replace the man with my organization). I’m currently in my twelfth year at the same organization and in a role where I was hired to be a subject matter expert (SME as they say). As much as I try to provide my subject matter expertise, it seems as though people just do things the way they choose, regardless of how the process should work. During a pivotal moment in the play, when Carole found herself and was making a move, she was bidding farewell to some long time friends and sang the words which I used to title this post “they’ll take your soul if you let them, but don’t you let them.”

That was my wake up call, that was exactly what I needed for perspective on the week. Their motive may not have been to take my soul, but I let them–for the week. But I will no longer allow people do that, I will no longer let others rule me and my feelings. Although there have definitely been some annoyances this week, I have not let it get to me. I’ve actually tried (and had to!) laugh a few things off or make a joke of them. Of course I still vent about them, but that’s also part of the way I deal with things. So for all of you out there experiencing some of the same frustrations as me, don’t let them take your soul and work on trying to laugh things off; it does make a big difference! xoxo