Yesterday’s Abundance

I hope y’all had as much fun yesterday as I did with extended family, gathering at our place for trick-or-treating and pot-luck dinner.  Talk about Abundance of candy, laughter, and love!

The Clown had a hard time keeping up with the big kids.  The Witch had a REALLY scary Witch Smile.  Groucho had his Groucho walk down so well that it had his Aunts giggling, and Flash even started to get in on the Groucho silly walk style!

And the fun continued trick-or-treating as well:

And of course, the Witch, showing off her Witchy Smile.  I told you it was scary!

The other end of the tunnel…

Have you ever noticed how it seems the darkest before the dawn of something new and exciting in your life?  The process of experiencing can often feel very painful, and cause you a lot of anxiety.  Sometimes you wish you could just push the fast-forward button on the remote-control of life.  It’s difficult to stay grounded and present in the here & now in periods like these.  I don’t want to sound like a Polly Anna, but if there’s big stuff going on that you can’t fast-forward through, you need to distract yourself by concentrating on what’s good in the here & now that you can appreciate right here, right now.

The last couple years have been a big process of change for me — getting laid off twice, just after having bought a new house, then seeing the market collapse just when we needed to reduce our cash outflow.  Talk about anxiety! 

Somehow, someway, I managed to pull myself together, and keep believing that this was just all just one small blip on the radar screen — that many years from now I’d be able to look back and think, yes, this was challenging, but the outcome was SO worth it.

Today my husband and I have just come out of the tunnel into the light — not only have I recently started working again, today we sold our old house that has been on the market for over 2 years.  We came out with enough to pay off that house’s mortgage and cover the entire “bridge” loan we took out to make our downpayment on our current house.  We didn’t come out ahead enough to be buying any living room furniture soon, but we can finally stop the bleeding and start saving again.

Would I want to go through this all again?  No.  Did it make me stronger, more self-relaiant, and more appreciative of what I do have?  Hell yes!

Forgive me for a few moments while I enjoy smiling up into the sunshine (and enjoy my glass of wine)!

Initial Thoughts on Civil Service

Well I’ve been amiss at keeping up my blog (and other online “social media” activities) during my first two weeks on the job at NAVFAC, so here’s some catch up.

It’s been a very good experience so far.  I really like the people I’m working with, and although the job itself is going to take me a while to learn and feel comfortable with, I’m already jumping in and helping make some of our processes more efficient with my MS Excel knowledge that I’ve picked up over the years from being so darn curious (“Hey – that’s cool!  How does THAT work?”), and overheard myself being referred to as an Excel Goddess! (Why thank you, YES I AM!).

So here’s my deep insight into Civil Service — it’s so freaking CIVIL!  We really only do work 40 hrs a week, and if we do have a business need to work longer to get something done (e.g., year-end close is fast approaching), we get paid overtime.  This is such a mind-shift from working 50, sometimes 60 hrs a week as a matter of course in the Fortune 500 world.  The significant cut in pay compared to my last two jobs really isn’t that significant if you work back to what my effective pay rate was based on a 50 hr work week.  And of course the healthcare benefits and long-term stability are a large non-monetary compensation, given the several years of the constant spectre of layoffs in the corporate world I’ve lived with (and accepted).

The personal / professional growth opportunities are certainly very present and encouraged, so it’s not like I’m going to be bored (me having a very HIGH “learning” motivation).

IT security and protection of personal information are taken extremely seriously, given the loss of a VA laptop a few years back.  As was the case at Allstate, Big Brother in IT does not allow you to check your personal commercially available web-based email accounts (e.g., Yahoo, Google) from work in order to put up a wall against some of the viruses that go around the Internet.  Also no use of USB-port “Thumb Drives” for the same reasons.  I had to read through & get certified on about 3 hrs of IT security and protection of personal information training, which makes me feel very good that our government agencies are taking this all very seriously. 

But here’s the coolest part of starting up as a Federal Civil Servant — us newbies were sworn in on our first day.  Honest!  We stood up facing the US flag, raised our right hand, and did a “I, (state your name), do solemly swear….”  At first I thought it was kinda hokey, but when it was over I felt like something really important had happened — I swore to uphold & defend the Constitution of the United States, not help Kraft sell more cheese, or Sprint sell more cell phones.  How cool is that?!   

And I’m working in an internal “company” (NAVFAC) that is helping to support the young men & women of our nation that put their lives on the line to defend the rest of us.  I really do feel that I’m working for a greater cause.  I never felt this inspired in any of my previous jobs. 

(And here’s my rant — to that relative of mine in NE who shall remain nameless and holds very different political views than I, and who went on a rant about me being “part of the problem” now that I’m a government employee, rather than congratulating me on finding a job or being glad to have me helping to watch out for how our federal funds are being spent, Dude, all I can say is that you just don’t freaking get it.)

And Now For Something Completely Different…

Bright an early this coming Monday morning I report to work at the HR building on the Great Lakes Naval Base.  I spoke briefly with my new boss this afternoon, and I’m pretty excited about jumping back into the work world again.  My sense of curiosity is on high alert — I’m always up for learning new stuff.  And, I’m really “tuned in, tapped in, turned on” to start this new chapter in my life.

In the meantime, I am drowning under a pile of paperwork to fill out and bring with me.  So, to keep me in the “military” mood, here’s some John Philip Sousa set to Monty Python to mark this “something completely different” coming to my life.

Girl Talk

Within the last 36 hours I’ve been to 3 separate events that were (with the exception of 3 men) women only — two different women’s professional networking groups, and a discussion group at my favorite bookstore, the Present Moment. 

I don’t think I can do justice to describing how uplifted I feel after these 3 meetings.  There is something different about attending women-only events that leaves me with a sense of connectedness that I rarely feel at co-ed networking events.  I think that without the guys around, women more easily and naturally drop the barriers and enjoy each other.  (Sorry guys.  You can go hang at the golf course, or whatever it is you do…).

I have laughed and smiled so much at these 3 events, and I feel like I’m walking in the clouds, pumped up with energy I really needed. 

At the North Shore Professional Womens Association meeting last night, we did a fun ice-breaker — telling 2 truths & 1 lie about yourself, and then guessing what each person’s lie is.  You learn such fun, fantastic stuff about each other.  One lady really was a model in Japan, where a short blonde is suddenly a TALL blonde model!  Another served in the Israeli Army and has a photo of herself in uniform.  Another had a summer-job in high school as the pink Power Ranger.  What a hoot!

At today’s Lake County Chamber of Commerce women’s luncheon, I ran into 3 other people I already knew, one other who knows two of my Vision 2020 compatriots, and got to hear my friend Faith Curtis speak to the group about nurturing self-love.  She is one inspiring lady!!  To make things even better, I’d gone there to promote Vision 2020 as a great seminar for those interested in starting or building their own business, and one woman immediately said she wanted to talk to me afterwards because she is sick of the corporate life, and is venturing out on her own!  It felt great to know that I was able to “give” her what she’s looking for!

And then at The Present Moment tonight, well, the discussion circle on the 2nd Thursday of each month is my spiritual “booster-shot” to get me back on track and feeling great.  Once again, led by Faith Curtis.  

To all the wonderful ladies I’ve connected with these past 36 hours, THANK YOU!

We’re Listed at Alltop!

This ROCKS!  I got confirmation in my email today that this blog is now listed at Guy Kawasaki’s Alltop site in the Career section.  I’m not sure what sort of review goes on back at Alltop before they list you, but this means we’ve made it to the big time of blogging, and that we must be doing something right!

Better Out Than In

Within the last couple days, I’ve spoken with former co-workers at two different companies, who have something in common. They both sounded MISERABLE, and are (again) waiting for the axe to fall.

I might not have a paycheck coming in on a regular basis at the moment, but I am so glad to be on the outside looking in. My opportunities are wide open — potential side gig in the works (watch this space), am registered for contract work through two different large Accounting & Finance staffing firms, am really enjoying networking and meeting new people, and today this finance geek was even called a “Marketing Maven!” I’m still in (good) shock from that last one.

The sky is the limit!