Rollercoasters, Bad Jobs, and Life Lessons

 

Away we go!



 To say this year has been a roller coaster is a major understatement. Like a "does-a-bear-shit-in-the-woods-I-can't-believe-you'd-ask-me-that" understatement. As I sit here now at the beginning of September I'm in a much better place, but in the last 11 months I've lost a job I loved, got a job that I hated, attempted to sell my house, been unemployed twice, lived with my in-laws, got a new job that I love, and moved to a new city. Looking back, that is so much stress in one year I can't believe Parrish & I survived it or at least didn't climb the nearest clock tower and start shooting. If Nietzsche were to come back to life for the sole purpose of telling me "That which does not kill us makes us stronger." I would haul off and punch him in the groin.

While it's been an eventful year, it hasn't all been negative and I've learned a lot along the way. Stuff that at the whopping old age of 33 I probably should have had a handle on before, but what can I say, I'm a late bloomer. I won't bore you with the ol' "Parrish & I can do anything" swoon-y crap because quite frankly it would get gushy and it's not my style to make everyone want to dry heave. So we'll just get to the second most important lesson I've learned:

Thank goodness I've had a bad job.

I know, I know I'm sure everyone reading this will think I'm a total freak, but having a job I hated really made me think about what I wanted for myself, not only in a job, but how I wanted my life to go. It was a risk taking that job, and I knew it from the minute I left the first - and only - interview that I had. They threw a lot of money at me, and after being unemployed for 3 months, it seemed like taking it was the right thing to do. 4 weeks later I was hating life and wondering about all those other opportunities that I had turned down. I'm proud I took the risk, because I am not a risk-taker, and I like that I paid off all my credit cards AND my car while I was there. Looking back, there were a lot of red flags from the get-go - a 3.5 hour interview that didn't include the head of the marketing department, being asked if I'd ever consider being a CMO even though I'd been an account manager for 3 months, not being offered a water (OK that isn't horrible, but I had cottonmouth BAD). Without further ado - here is all the wisdom I gained from working there:

1. Listen to your gut. I mentioned the red flags earlier - if only I hadn't pushed those feelings away, but it was REALLY easy once they offered me an outrageous salary.
2. If the office gives you the creeps, don't work there. My first thoughts were the place wasn't finished and I didn't want to be there for an extended period of time. That and they only had 2 unisex bathrooms. For 30 people. You will be there a lot, make sure you are comfortable.
3. If upper management doesn't sleep and is stressed out all the time, you will be too. One executive existed solely on Coca-Cola and 3 hours of sleep while another was twitchy and talked a lot. And I mean A LOT. This doesn't make for a peaceful work environment.
4. In a small company you will work the same hours as your boss. And I mean answering correspondence when she emails you at 5 am while you're half asleep and hanging off the bed. My boss was an ex-criminal defense attorney turned marketer. She knew her stuff but she still worked those 90 hour weeks and expected me to also. I believe in working hard, but that is just cray-cray.
5. Keep your commute to under 45 minutes. My commute was 1.5 hours. ONE WAY and that is just ridiculous. The plan was to sell our house and move closer. Luckily I got laid off before that happened, but anything over 45 minutes will kill your will to live.
6. Sometimes getting laid off isn't so bad. In the end, getting laid off was the best thing that happened to me. It made me realize that I needed to fight for a work-life balance and in my second job hunt that's something that I really stressed in my interviews.

3 months after I got laid off (again) I'm at a new job in a new city, and I'm loving every second of it. I see Parrish now more than ever and I can go to sleep without thinking about work the next day. I don't work any less than I ever did, but it's more about efficiency and working realistic schedules than just working to be at work. Life is good.

Song of the Day: 3 Little Birds by Bob Marley. I'm taking it back bitches!