EVERYONE HAS THEIR CROSSES TO BARE, MINE COMES IN THE FORM OF AN 80'S HAIR BAND

For sometime now I've been agonizing over a fork in the path of my life.  With recent changes at work through means of retirements and promotions there was an opportunity for me to advance in my career, which is all well and good, except it doesn't coincide with my actual goal to transfer to an office closer to where I grew up.  It was seemingly a case of choosing whether my career was more important or my life was more important and while I think we sometimes think those two things are synonymous, this experience really showed me that they are, in fact, not.  You see, had I chosen the route of promotion I would, at best, have prolonged the return to a place I love and feel most comfortable in my skin, and at worst eliminated the possibility altogether.  On the flip side, I am very driven to succeed and expand my horizons through new experiences and challenges.  I need this constant motion to keep me satisfied in my job.  I spent several weeks weighing the pros and cons of the two options, but ultimately kept coming back to one thing; if you strip away everything down to the bare bones of the choice it truly does come down to choosing between life and career.  It was seemingly a no-brainer for me.  My job is just a job and life without me in it will continue as it has for many years before my arrival.  When my time is done at this company I want my life to be fulfilling out side of work.  Nevertheless I saw the opportunity to interview for the promotion as a chance to gain some valuable knowledge for the future as I am confident other opportunities will arise.  It's an aging work force so it only stands to reason this to be true.  

Yesterday was D-day.  Myself and three other candidates were interviewed, including one co-worker and one person who is currently already in the roll, just at a different location.  My interview went well, I knew that the interviewers were impressed.  My co-workers interview did not go as well and I could tell he was anxious to pick my brain and see whether I was serious competition or not.  He's been campaigning around the office for several weeks since this all came out, but I've know for sometime that the manager who was filling the vacancy was doing his best to give me this chance, which only added to the stress of my predicament.  In the end the manager was advised by our HR department that the existing supervisor must be given the job as there was no grounds to say that any one of us were better qualified when she has been doing the job for nearly three years now.  It was a brilliant learning experience and I got exceptionally positive feedback from both my interviewers.  I am glad I went through the process, but even more relieved that I was not forced to make a decision.

The cherry on the sunday for me was that plainly my co-worker thought I had been offered the job this morning when he was me being called into the office first thing.  The look on his face was quite priceless and was worth going through it all.

The funny side of this story is that, while I was so stressed out about this interview I dreamt about zombies on Sunday night.  The dream was so intense that I woke frightened followed by very hungry which was a strange sensation.  Dream about zombies = being hungry?? Hungry for what though...

I know there is little levity in tonights blog, not to my usual repartee, but I thought it was an experience worth sharing and putting some perspective out there for anyone who may be in a similar situation.   Hopefully tonights title at least brought a smile to your face.

That's all for now,

Cheers