A New Work Chapter
Today is my last day of unemployment
6 months.
Over 100 applications.
Over 30 interviews.
My new job starts tomorrow.
I am feeling all the feels.
I have worked really hard to make good use of the time that was given to me. I worked hard for both moving on to my next job and working hard at home. “Regret Prevention” was my goal. As I thought of opportunities, changes, tasks, projects, community, growth, I wanted to know that I did what I could to seize this moment for all it could be worth.
There was a theme of my 6 months, 100 applications, 30 interviews and new job; God has a plan for me and it is not to harm me. How anyone gets through something like this without that knowledge close and personal, I do not have any idea. And to be Biblically accurate, it isn’t that He just has a plan that wouldn’t harm me, it says He has “plans to prosper you and not to harm you.”. No joke, I was willing to consider less prosperous options if it meant I could work.
My husband and I have a core belief when it comes to big decisions; God, make it obvious. While I was willing to change fields, change states, change job titles, I just kept in mind, “whatever you want me to do”. Also key, I said this not just in handling the next job but in handling each day. When you don’t know how long unemployment will last, sometimes each day is a lot. So for the majority of the days I would wake up and say, “Thank you so much for keeping me safe, what are we going to do today?” And we did a lot.
We did a lot that while I don’t enjoy how I got laid off, or enjoyed such a decrease in take home pay, I am thankful for these last 6 months. Over the last few years I had come up with the idea that every leaders should entertain a sabbatical. Leave the position they were in, take time away and then have to come back and see what they were truly capable of. I am abundantly thankful that I get to not only get a job, but a position higher than I have worked at before. I am so thankful that I get to try again and to serve new people with new people. What I had not considered is how the time off would also inform how I lead because it strips away a lot of the busyness and takes an important pulse of what is important., relevant and of value to people in the work.
So while I feel all the feels on the eve before a new job, I’ll use one of the many lessons of the last 6 months. I will wake up in the morning and I will say, “Thank you so much for keeping me safe, what are we going to do today?”