Had a ridiculously busy day yesterday. Stood in line for HOURS to get my passport. Played Skee-Ball on my iPhone till my eyes bled. A 4-year-old boy in front of me SCREAMED during 95% of the waiting time. I told a friend that I hope he gets deported before his trip — miserable little bastard!
Today’s another busy day and I actually have some work to do. Yeah, work on the weekend after my first official week with the new company. Welcome to my world!
I’d almost forgotten how tough it is to be the new kid. Mostly because it takes four hours to do even the smallest task because you don’t know who to call, where to find it, what the password or the secret handshake is, or what resources are in plain sight that your eyes can’t yet see.
I’m being more assertive with my time, though. No more of this “I’ll stay awake till all hours just because I have to.” Screw that crap. I’m old and I need my beauty sleep!
I wouldn’t say that this is a reinvention of the Goddess, but it is an opportunity to kind of do a “greatest hits” album. With a few new bonus tracks. I figure, I’ll sign a deal for a couple of albums, and do my best, and then move on to what I really want to do … whatever that is.
Another different attitude I carry this time is that this isn’t a stopping point. I always throw myself into a job at the expense of not only having a life, but having a career BEYOND where I’ve landed.
And I think that has worn on me in previous lives … that feeling of being “totally committed” ends up as “OMG I’m trapped.” But I’m already planning out the possibilities — nay, the probabilities — and that helps me to keep the present in immense perspective.
If I stay where I am for a long time to come, great. But I’m not there at gunpoint — that’s the point I’m making. I didn’t sell my soul; nor do I plan to.
That’s the gift of both hindsight and experience — sure, I’ll work my ass off to learn and to contribute. But at the end of the day, at the first sign of glass shards in my stomach or the first inclination to avert the gaze of the woman in the mirror, I’m done.
I swear, if I don’t end up as a career coach one of these days, I will have missed my calling. And the neat thing is, I see a million opportunities to change people’s lives — not just in my field (although that’s wonderful, too), but right in my own department.
And I think the stars have aligned such that, if ever there were a perfect time to make history in every respect, this is it.