Get Back to Work!

Unfortunately, I don’t think I will make it to see Avatar before the Oscars, quashing my quest to watch all ten Best Picture nominees. But that’s fine, because I have made it back to the office! That’s right, folks—she’s employed!

This week, I started the next phase of my professional journey, as a copywriter with Saatchi & Saatchi Wellness. I even commuted and worked from the Tribeca office on Thursday. Though it was my first time in an office in months—and my first time ever in that particular office—it was easy to feel comfortable sitting there, learning the ropes, meeting new people, exploring a fresh space, and testing out the coffee machine. After all, I have been a new hire several times over the course of a few years; I am a professional when it comes to getting acclimated.

This is such an exciting time for me. Once again, I will be truly very busy, and that is the environment I thrive in. Between the new 9-to-5, writing my thesis, and directing a Written Out Loud workshop once a week, I have my hands full. Not to mention the 10-day European vacation I have coming up to visit Katie abroad. (I know—terrible timing with the new gig, but life happens.)

I’m still completing follow-up visits with the surgeon and the orthodontist for my jaw. I am also hunting for a new roommate to fill the soon-to-be-vacant main bedroom of my apartment. I have another half marathon coming up in under two months. Life is happening really fast and furiously right now, which is spectacular.

Starting a new job is a moment ripe with possibility, because I get to make a first impression on a whole new group of people. I get to shovel aside the mental crud and make room for a whole new set of skills and lots of novel information. It’s a moment of redefinition. I remain myself, but I add a new layer to my personhood. Addition, not revision.

There are many things I am looking forward to over the first few weeks of my new job, but mostly I am hoping to soak up the newness of it all, before it fades to routine. It’s always hard to remember our first times. Riding a bike, going on a plane, eating ice cream. So I am trying to really clock all of the firsts that this new chapter will bring.

I will keep this short, since it has been a long week, but the bottom line is that I am trying to think of all change as a good thing. Even in losing jobs… you can never begin something new if you don’t close the book on something that’s become your normal. One door closes, yadda yadda. Sorry for the mixed metaphors. Here’s another one: variety is the spice of life.

I am not saying to pinball among jobs to seek constant newness. I am saying to try and see the possibility in every change that comes your way, whether it’s a new job, a new roommate, a new haircut. Things will never be the same. Isn’t that exciting?