Just When You Think You Have It All Figured Out

The job hunt over the last 7 months has been an eye-opening experience to say the least. I’ve had to rethink a lot of things, namely who I am and what I do.

I’ve already had the “talk” about it not being all about money so I won’t wax philosophical about that…what I do want to talk about though is the idea of comfort zones.

We all get comfortable in life doing something…for some it’s raising a family, for others it’s having a high-powered career, and for still others, it’s somewhere in between.

I was always the high-powered career gal (to use a term (“gal”) that I hate). When I got married almost 11 years ago, I told my then boss, that’s it. No more 12-14 hour days, I have a husband to take care of. Yet that seemed at the time out of sorts for me. I was only used to taking care of myself. What did it mean to take care of someone else?

Taking care of a loved one, at least in my circumstances, meant being home to cook dinner and spend time with my husband before having to get to sleep to start the day all over again. I couldn’t imagine then how other couples managed to stay together…working long hours and dealing with the Washington, D.C. commutes took away all that “together time”.

Nevertheless despite the fact that I cut back on hours, I still considered myself a high-powered career gal. I had an upwardly mobile career, I was making scads of money, and I was relatively happy, until my husband was not happy. That was the kicker for me. It wasn’t all about me. It had to be about him too. I had to make a change to afford him a chance at renewed happiness. I had to step out of my comfort zone.

So that’s where I am now…unemployed but looking. Although he’d like for me to get a great paying job, this exercise in making him happy has forced me to reassess what I want at this point in my life. I want a challenging and interesting job, but I want also to be home in time to make dinner and sit with my husband (and his cat) in the swing in the front yard. I don’t want to make decisions that will in any way sacrifice the life we have together. Because, what’s better in the long run, a ton of money and a crappy attitude, or a glass of wine, the gentle sensation of a swing, and that quiet time together with the one person you can’t imagine being without?