The backstory ...
I've been working since I was fourteen - my first job was at the local public library where I helped take the library online. It was pretty fun and cutting edge even though I didn't quite realize it at the time. I did not, however, become a librarian. I also did not become a lawyer (despite having been a paralegal), an academic (despite getting multiple degrees in history), or a museum professional (despite working in a museum). Instead I fell into fundraising and prospect research.
It is work that I'm good at and that can be fun - particularly now that I know what I'm doing (I had to teach myself in my first job). I've worked for a non-profit, a health care entity, and a university so I've seen a range of research shops and office structures and have learned from each of them. I was in my last job (with the university) for five and a half years and worked with a number of teams who I really enjoyed collaborating with, first in the office and then from home after we moved to Milwaukee. Then, in early September, I abruptly learned that our group was being reorganized and that I was being laid off as of November. Not a great day. It was made harder because it was a total shock and I was asked not to talk about it to anyone in the office - to plan for the future or say goodbye - until they announced the whole reorganization plan. That didn't happen until my last week. It was like living in a void for a couple of months.
Then it was all gone. Really odd on one hand but also oddly calming on another. A load of stress left when I shipped the laptop and monitor back (followed closely by a couple final expense reports) and I've continued to feel lighter with the passage of time. It was an awful experience on one hand but I had a lot of time to think, reflect, and talk to people whose opinions I value. I think I am emerging from this stronger and in a better place overall.
Where I am now ...
Four months later I still don't have a job and that's OK. I also don't know what I want my next job to be doing. This break is a luxury made possible by my husband who had the wisdom to tell me to take a break and regroup, to get over being burned out, to figure out what comes next, and, perhaps most importantly, to find something that will make me happy. I still have no idea what that is ... I know what might be fun and interesting but there is no immediate rush. There also are some other things going on that are proving to be welcome and fulfilling distractions ...
First though, here is my minimal workspace ... very little paper, a few distractions, a happy place to sit and work ...
