Reconnecting…with What Truly Matters

To every story there is an end. Life goes on. Things change. And we adapt, or not, but the stories that comprise our lives come to an end as well, in one form or another. We fall in love, hopefully forever, but sometimes it doesn’t work out, and both parties go on to the next chapter, wherever that might take them. Even when that love does, indeed, last a lifetime, humans are not immortal, and we succumb to that final separation. Many things have hoped-for endings: seeking a degree, finalizing the details for your new start-up company, purchasing a house. But the stories that make up our lives end at some point. We have all been in relationships, romantic or otherwise, where we begin to see little signs of the end coming into view. New interests on the part of your business partners that don’t particularly include you and your talents might be one case. Seeing an equal at work being assigned better projects of the sort you used to get when things were better. The little signals that start the thought process and realizing that things have changed and that it’s time to react. 

I’m here right now at work. I’m seeing my counterpart at work assigned better projects, work better schedules, and have more responsibility. And I’m okay with that. The current position I hold was not a career move for me, but an exit strategy for the industry segment in which I work. During my interview process, of course, I didn’t use the phrase, “exit strategy,” but it was all the same. I believe I said that I wanted to create more time for family, writing, and music: all things that had been neglected due to my then-hectic, completely full schedule over a number of years. I also was a cheerleader of and for the company for whom I now work during the interviewing, and I said I wanted to continue to work in this industry, and I would bring a lot of experience with client service and satisfaction, and so forth. And they loved my honesty, eventually offered me a position, and so our relationship began. And it has been one of the most incredible times of my life. Each day at work, I get to interact and play with one of the best teams I’ve ever worked with in any industry, at any time in my life, and for them I am grateful. The work itself is not quite what I thought it would be, nor did I create quite the amount of time for family, writing and music as I originally thought I would, but it has been a time of personal growth and reckoning, not to mention taking action to create that ‘better world’ I had in mind when I undertook to make the switch from my former company to this one.

Nonetheless, I am seeing signs that our relationship may be coming to an end. I will remain in touch with the friends I’ve made here. I’ve also made it clear that I did not come here to pursue career interests, but to create time and space for other things; things that excite and challenge me to be a better person, and that at some point there would be an exit. Now I feel I’m coming to a time where it will be time to act; to put up or shut up, as it were. And I am preparing myself for that day. Like the learning I’ve experienced, which has been difficult at times, mostly because what I’ve learned were things I should have learned earlier, but that circumstances didn’t allow earlier, the next step, a transitional step, will require a great deal of courage, of introspection, and trust. Thanks to the present situation, I now know I will be okay through this progression, and I have only to say thank you. Thank you to the team I work with now. Thank you for whatever forces provided me with this opportunity to learn, as well as the insight to see what I needed to do. And thank you to all my friends, family, and other loved ones for supporting me through this time.