Does Anybody Still Read This? Oh hai, LJ!
Something compelled me to visit LJ today... so here I am. I've written over the past years in infrequent intervals, but it's pretty accurate to say that this journal is now a place where I post almost 100% private entries. But I'm meeting with paranoidsistah on Sunday and suddenly feel nostalgic about reconnecting with LJ and fandom friends. So, here's a very broad summary of what's happened in the past, oh, three years or so:
- During 2011-2012, I was running on empty at my nonprofit job. Things went well outwardly -- I was promoted several times and was even approached by Boss Lady to take over the organization for her once she retires. But reading back at my journal entries over that year, I can now see that in every entry, I had talked about how exhausted I was and how trapped I felt at work. Hindsight is 20/20. I should have quit a long time ago.
- But I didn't want to quit because I became a homeowner! Yup, I bought a co-op apartment. It's new and shiny and it's beautiful :)
- Eventually I did quit. In 2012, I went back to school.
- It was a Master's program for mid-career professionals interested in going deeper into the public sector. During my program, I was assigned to work in Philadelphia for 9 months.
- And so leaving my new apartment, I relocated to Philadelphia. I got to work on forming the Philadelphia Land Bank. Very cool.
- A year ago, in July 2013, I graduated!
- I spent 8 months as an unemployed post-grad. Looking back, it was the best time of my life. I needed the break.
- I volunteered. I rediscovered things I used to love. I moved back to NYC and fell in love with my neighborhood all over again. I rested. I attended events and concerts. I started again to write for fun, sing, play my guitar, read, take joy in life... I had completely stopped doing all those things in the years leading up to what I now know was a total burn-out in 2011.
- I found my faith again. Living at poverty level while in grad school and on no income after graduation, all the while having a mortgage to pay, meant I had to really decide whether I believe God would provide. I was blessed with generous and supportive friends, unexpected roommates, food and clothing gifted by my church, and -- no joke -- money coming in the mail and on the ground for me to pick up.
- I'm now working in a policy job that feels like it's tailor-made for me. It's everything I asked for: to stay connected "on the ground" with local communities, to continue my volunteer work as part of my job, to attend events and conferences within the same field (now also part of my job), to make enough to live on and also some extra that I intend to give/donate, to have flexible work hours, to truly make an impact with my work, to be in a healthy work environment, to contribute my skills while learn new ones, to work for a boss that I respect... it's literally my dream job.
And so, that's been my past few years! I can honestly say that I'm at a good place in my life right now. There are challenges for sure, and things on the family front seem to be crumbling for reasons I won't go into. But I have a sense of wholeness that I haven't felt for a long time, and for that, I'm very thankful.
- During 2011-2012, I was running on empty at my nonprofit job. Things went well outwardly -- I was promoted several times and was even approached by Boss Lady to take over the organization for her once she retires. But reading back at my journal entries over that year, I can now see that in every entry, I had talked about how exhausted I was and how trapped I felt at work. Hindsight is 20/20. I should have quit a long time ago.
- But I didn't want to quit because I became a homeowner! Yup, I bought a co-op apartment. It's new and shiny and it's beautiful :)
- Eventually I did quit. In 2012, I went back to school.
- It was a Master's program for mid-career professionals interested in going deeper into the public sector. During my program, I was assigned to work in Philadelphia for 9 months.
- And so leaving my new apartment, I relocated to Philadelphia. I got to work on forming the Philadelphia Land Bank. Very cool.
- A year ago, in July 2013, I graduated!
- I spent 8 months as an unemployed post-grad. Looking back, it was the best time of my life. I needed the break.
- I volunteered. I rediscovered things I used to love. I moved back to NYC and fell in love with my neighborhood all over again. I rested. I attended events and concerts. I started again to write for fun, sing, play my guitar, read, take joy in life... I had completely stopped doing all those things in the years leading up to what I now know was a total burn-out in 2011.
- I found my faith again. Living at poverty level while in grad school and on no income after graduation, all the while having a mortgage to pay, meant I had to really decide whether I believe God would provide. I was blessed with generous and supportive friends, unexpected roommates, food and clothing gifted by my church, and -- no joke -- money coming in the mail and on the ground for me to pick up.
- I'm now working in a policy job that feels like it's tailor-made for me. It's everything I asked for: to stay connected "on the ground" with local communities, to continue my volunteer work as part of my job, to attend events and conferences within the same field (now also part of my job), to make enough to live on and also some extra that I intend to give/donate, to have flexible work hours, to truly make an impact with my work, to be in a healthy work environment, to contribute my skills while learn new ones, to work for a boss that I respect... it's literally my dream job.
And so, that's been my past few years! I can honestly say that I'm at a good place in my life right now. There are challenges for sure, and things on the family front seem to be crumbling for reasons I won't go into. But I have a sense of wholeness that I haven't felt for a long time, and for that, I'm very thankful.