Friday, February 09, 2007

It has been a very strange week. Because of sub-zero windchills, school was closed throughout Central Ohio for the first three days of this week. That kept my 13-year-old home, which certainly put a damper on my productivity. Of course, Monday I wouldn't have been productive anyway. My mother is scheduled for back surgery on the 19th, and Monday was her day to go have all her pre-operative testing done. So that day was blown away for my purposes. (I sat at the hospital with her for the several-hour process.) Productivity aside, though, it was kind of nice to have that extra time with my son. He was finishing a major paper and I was able to provide support and guidance and keep him on task.

One thing I did accomplish yesterday was contacting a few more friends who had not yet heard my news. I was really touched by the immediate and powerful outpouring of support I got. My friend Lisa called right away and gave some really nice emotional support. My friend Ann called this morning and was brimming over with thoughts about who she could call and places I could look. And later in the conversation, she also provided some lovely encouragement to make sure I use this opportunity to do some soul-searching and figure out what I'm really good at and what gives me joy, and turn it over to God to get me to a place where those are the things I'll be doing. I had already been thinking along those lines, of course, and working with both the career counselor and my life coach/friend Jamie on them. But it felt great to get another reinforcement that this is what I need to be about.

While I admit to having a low grade fear about not finding something soon enough to shelter my family from financial distress, overall I do feel that this has all happened for a positive reason. I feel God is guiding me to something better, and I just need to cooperate and relinquish control and let it happen. While I wasn't actively miserable (usually) in my previous job, I wasn't truly happy either. It was never a perfect fit for me, and I often thought how I missed the feeling I have had other times in my life of being truly engaged by my work and energized by it. I believe God will lead me to something that gives me that energy again.

In spite of the weird demands on my time this week, I have had some successes. I went through a mock interview with my career coach which was a positive experience. She gave some good tips for improvement and preparation, while at the same time giving lots of positive feedback and praise that built my confidence for when I go into a real interview. I signed up for temporary access to the Central Ohio Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America's job board, so I can keep looking there for PR/Communication/Marketing type jobs. And just by trolling the general job boards I've identified another four jobs that are at least worth looking at harder and possibly sending off a resume.

I've become a mall-walker, and I've resumed my previous habit of using my walking time as prayer time. (You'd think I would have become MORE prayerful when I lost my job, but actually, I felt a little numb at first and didn't really talk to God as much as usual.) This morning as I walked I was very focused on how blessed I am. My life is filled with such wonderful people -- my immediate family, of course, and my extended family, and then the wonderful friends who support me. I just had to thank God.

This weekend, Sam, my son, needs to finish his 3-dimensional project and his display board for the Interest Fair at his school. The fair isn't until February 22, but he is scheduled to go away for a long-weekend ski trip with his Boy Scout troop next weekend. It is fully paid for and everything, but he knows if the Interest Fair stuff isn't finished, he doesn't get to go. So I'm sure as a family we will ALL be focused on those things this weekend. And on top of that, this Saturday night is the black-tie dinner-dance fundraiser for the scholarship foundation at our church. So Bob and I will get to go out on a wonderful date! By Monday, I'll need the weekday routine just to rest up from the weekend!

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