Headed Back to the Last Frontier

Posted by Kathy Torrence on Aug 4, 2008 in Family Stuff |

After traveling this weekend to Valley Forge, I’m getting ready to pack up again and head back to Alaska next Sunday morning for my ‘real’ job.  I’ve now been working at my new job for just over 6 months and am posting for a minute to reflect on my progress.

I haven’t posted much about work lately, but it’s been interesting – and very busy.  I had to work a bit this weekend just to prepare for next week’s meetings.

I love that I work only three days a week, but it turns out that I’m actually doing five days a week’s worth of work (sometimes even more) in those three days.  I don’t get much ‘down time’ at work – I rarely take lunches or have time to chat with my co-workers.  At least that’s how it’s been lately.

When I mentioned this to Mike last week, he basically told me that I bring it all on myself because I’m such a control freak.  It seems that the more work that I do, the more work that I get.  And if someone else is doing the work…it makes me crazy because I guess I really am a control freak (is that a bad thing?).

I just feel that I’ve put so much of myself into this project that I would hate to see it fail or receive bad press.  I’m dedicated to seeing it through and I want it to be a success.  I need to remember that the entire project is NOT riding on MY shoulders…but I’ve certainly had a heavy hand in it and take a lot of personal responsibility for the outcome.

I must admit I’ve been enjoying these busy days – especially being so involved in something so large and critical.  I actually like what I’m doing right now (and the extra money doesn’t hurt either).

Fortunately for me, I’ve also received some great feedback from my project leaders which helps to keep me going…imagine that?  After all that time staying at home with my children and so many years away from the industry, I’ve managed to become a valuable part of a real project again – a project involving more than just changing diapers and doing laundry.

I hope that this can inspire other moms who have left their careers temporarily and are looking at going back to work – you CAN jump right back in at work again and get back up to speed in no time.  It takes a leap of faith though – I was SO intimidated by the idea of going back into the software industry – I hadn’t had to exercise that part of my brain for the 6 years that I was at home!

But as time goes on, I realize that I’ve had it in me all along – it had just been re-directed for a few years.  And I’m so glad that I had the chance to stay home with my family – I’ll never get those years back again and I’m appreciative that I was here to enjoy them.

Now I feel like I’m a working-mom on the days that I work and a stay-at-home mom on the days that I’m off – such a great compromise!  But no matter what, I’m always a MOM first – nothing is as important a job as that.

So what do I pack for Alaska in August, anyway?????

Reply

Copyright © 2024 Flying By the Seat of My Pants All rights reserved. Theme by Laptop Geek.