Permanent Stability Can Be Achieved?

Being laid off at my first job out of college was the biggest blessing. I appreciate it in hindsight because it taught me that it was impossible to have life figured out and to accept that as fact not feeling. This helped me rewire my brain to no longer associate my self-worth with the corporation I was attached to. It also was the start of a realization that permanent stability isn’t a thing.

Whoever said that the only thing constant was change was accurate and adaptability might be the only thing to save us from this thought of “everything has to be this way forever” thinking. If you can master the art of adapting and being flexible, you get further in life.

If anything the pandemic should’ve been a serious learning opportunity. I feel like people either came out with grace for themselves and others or existential dread that they have to accomplish everything they need to because the world can end at any moment. I don’t want to be that person but both can be true and if anything you should give yourself and others grace because the world can end at any moment. If anything that uncertainty during the height of the pandemic brought the country a little closer and that grace that was extended in those times seemed to have gone completely to the wayside.

Work-Life Balance Doesn’t Exist?

For the longest, I struggled with this one. Even pre-pandemic I was working mostly from home. During the height of the pandemic, I learned that working from home didn’t mean the same thing as work-life balance. When the pandemic first shut everything down I was working from home on a North American shift and an Indian shift because we didn’t have the bandwidth to all be online together but being in Healthcare IT, we didn’t have the luxury to pause and figure it out. We had to still keep going and my job was the bridge between the team in India and the team in Pittsburgh. My day was literally four hours in the morning and take a break mid-day to do four hours in the evening. Granted, we couldn’t go anywhere anyway but that taught me that work-life balance and working from home aren’t synonymous with one another.

I also thought I didn’t like office culture but it turns out that I didn’t like the office culture I had experienced throughout my professional career. Bad office cultures can look like having to fight for a promotion, not being heard, and just showing up for the sake of showing up to the office. There is no reason that anyone should have to show up to an office just to get on Teams Meetings. That is a waste of money, time, space, and value. Employees who feel valued stay at the company longer and tend to go above and beyond at their jobs.

Work-life balance is working for a company that knows you have a life and values your time enough to understand that the “We are not doctors. Everything doesn’t have to be urgent,” approach to life is important.

Unlimited PTO is Amazing?

Unlimited PTO sounds great on paper. However, studies show that companies that offer this perk have employees who underutilize their PTO hours because they don’t know how much is too much or too little PTO time. Also, unlimited PTO is more for the company’s benefit as companies don’t have to cash out an employee’s PTO if it’s unlimited because there’s technically nothing stored there.

Money Buys Happiness?

Money doesn’t always equal happiness and that sounds cliche I know. I found out that sure, money can buy comforting things but these comforting things can only go so far if you don’t like what you’re doing. Some people are wired to be able to do something they hate every day just for the money and others can not be motivated to do the same thing every day for a paycheck. I am in the latter category. I tried to believe you, but just taking a lot of money with no passion behind it was doing terrible things to my peace. Creating a personal mission statement and applying for jobs that aligned with that mission statement made life a lot more peaceful. Sure, I don’t have as much money anymore but I have more time and peace and I would rather someone waste my money than my time as I can make money back, time will never return. Most of the lowest-paying jobs I’ve ever had have been the most fulfilling. Heck, doing some of the things I’ve done for free have landed me amazing opportunities because when you’re passionate about something long enough, people notice and they pay you because they’re either not passionate enough about the topic or you know more than them because you’ve been at it so long.

Talking to a college class yesterday I told the students to embrace that they have no idea where they are going and use that as motivation to find a path. Knowing what works for them and embracing change will always give the person who adapts the upper hand. Only two things in my life have always been constant and they are not attached to a company or organization. I will always be a writer as long as I can write and know words and two is, I will always love service. The first thing I do when something throws me for a loop is to find a volunteer opportunity which seems backward but helping other people helps me. For example, the first time I got laid off, I joined AmeriCorps for the summer. The second time I got laid off, I found myself pruning a local garden. You would think volunteering for free sounds counterproductive after losing a job but doing things for free builds character, skills, and clarity.

Lean into your fear of not knowing what’s next and use it as motivation to keep discovering new things to add to your arsenal because the person who can’t take change is the one who’s setting themselves up for failure.

“Fear is a tool that has its place: it will keep you alive if you are in real danger, but if you live with it day- to -day it will eventually deaden your soul. Instead of moving from fear, I began, slowly, to extend myself grace.” — Gabrielle Union You Have Anything Stronger