Exactly one year and forty-four days ago today – thirteen months and thirteen days ago … four hundred and nine days ago – my “job” of nine years came to a close after our programs were acquired by our regional affiliate. To be honest, it was more than a “job.” It was a mission, a conviction, an endeavor into which my staff and I poured more time and energy and sweat and tears and laughs and life than we’ll ever be able to express or recapture.
In the months preceding our closure we had a lot of good-byes and final transactions to make with our partners. We found ourselves closing accounts and disposing of property. We discovered we had a lot to learn before we could determine what could go and what needed to be retained … and where that place of retention might be. Volunteers – saints, really – helped us do what we didn’t know how to do and to do what we couldn’t bring ourselves to do. And my My Job Sucks partner, Leslie, and I may well be eternally indebted to her mom and my youngest daughter for the countless hours they spent reviewing and helping us to make good decisions, distributing and disposing of “stuff,” cleaning out and packing up our offices, etc., etc., etc. … and both with five-year old boys in tow!).
So why am I telling you all this? Definitely, it’s not for sympathy (as all too many have been want to give us). Rather, it’s because it’s been quite a while since either Leslie or I have posted or shared anything related to our work dedicated to eradicating from the American vocabulary that three-word phrase with an exclamation point: My Job Sucks!. I could blame the past four hundred and nine days filled with job searching, temporary jobs, and financial challenges (and a bit of grieving too) for our lack of attending to MJS, but part of it’s been the question: “Does it suck more to be stuck in a sucky job or to be suckily stuck without a job?”
Today, though, the waiting is over and we’re back … and we want to ask YOU that question: “Does it suck more to be stuck in a sucky job or to be suckily stuck without a job?” And we want your help to answer it. Will you reply to this post with your thoughts and insights and/or head on over to our website at http://MyJobSucks.us/ and share your thoughts and insights on the Safe Space to Vent? We really appreciate your input as our new Eradication Campaign takes off.
Feel free to repost or share this with someone you know … and if you’ll check in with us on Wednesday, we’ll have another question for you – one that’ll help you in the weeks and months ahead.