This Morning 5/18/12 - Jobs End

Endings

I'm leaving a job I've had for ten years.  I always wondered why people would stay at a job for ten years or even twenty.  Frankly, I always wondered what it would feel like.  So, this is what it feels like.  Like I'm taking off an old, worn sweater which I really don't like anymore, but which feels like an old friend.

In the past, I've never been very good at endings.   For me to walk into any situation, I must really trust it enough that I am willing to work very hard for it.  I've been self-employed for the last twenty-five years except for teaching music for three years at a private school and this job.

It came along at an important juncture - I was divorced and in the process of building my therapeutic massage practice after attending school, and I needed more money to support my kids.  It was very little time - 12 hours per week - but provided me with enough food and gas money for my family.  After five years, and by now my massage practice was booming, the hours cut down to six, and I was the only office staff.  This was even better because now I was staying there out of charity because of the inevitable closing of this place, and it was such a small commitment of time, it was totally flexible in terms of when I actually did the work.   I could easily work in my music touring schedule and my summer schedule for travelling west for ceremonies.  My gigs and massage practice were doing fine by now, so this was just literally a place to earn my gas and electric bill money.

When the economy crashed in 2008, and I really began to feel it in 2009/10, this job was a big help to me, even though the pay was minimal.  While I struggled to find more work and then started school in January of 2010, I came to appreciate the stability of steady work.  Obviously, the closing of this institution did not happen, although it was on the brink.

So upon this acquiring of my degree and my newly found supplemental job at 40% more pay, I'm bagging the old for the new!

As I explained to my supervisor, the wind is blowing and I must catch it. The clear, pure air has arrived to purify my life with new, fresh scents and feelings.  This is one wind I will not miss and this job is one ending I am happy to mark.