The Good: The hectic schedule of the past five weeks is easing, as my assessment job comes to an end. The Bad: I will be earning less, so it’s back to unemployment benefits.
The Good: I finished the test prep instructor training, just at a point where I was wondering if the pressure was worth it. I can check it off the list and put it on my resume. The Bad: There is no employment action in this area; I don’t know if I will ever have any classes or students.
The Good: I finished, with my two colleagues, the town auditors’ report. It’s been interesting digging into the details of the town’s finances, and we think we may have stirred things up with some of our questions and comments. (We’ll see what the reaction to the report is when it’s published.) We also agreed that we would continue with the job, as there is more to do, although having missed the deadline for the ballots, we’ll have to run as write-ins. (Town Meeting and voting is the first Tuesday in March.) The Bad: This job is part volunteer and part paid; I will be losing the little bit of income it brought in.
The Good: I have a new paid project as a consultant. (See the next post). The Bad: It’s a short-term project, although with some possibility of extension.
The Good: There are new openings every week for jobs that I would enjoy and am qualified for. The Bad: I apply, without success.
The Good: I continue to build new relationships, strengthen old ones, and develop wider networks. It’s very satisfying to run into new people who have heard of me in positive ways, or to find casual acquaintances who are surprisingly supportive. I am reaching beyond the borders of my previous professional connections. The Bad: It’s all very well to network, but is there a positive outcome (aka, employment) at the end?
The Ugly? Usually I manage to keep a balanced perspective on my situation, always aware of the many positive facets of my life. But every now and then the stress builds up, and I have a melt down where I can’t cope and the tears flow. Most recently the “last straw” was a medical office that forgot to schedule an important appointment. Luckily, I found a sympathetic listener in the customer service office, and I recovered, knowing that my complaint was heard. Sometimes it’s the little things that force us to acknowledge the underlying emotions of a stressful situation. It’s important to find appropriate outlets for those emotions to prevent them from hijacking our responses at unexpected times.
The View from Spruce Knob 