April always tests what I’m made of…

In April 2013, I joined AmeriCorps after being laid off for the first time. In April 2014, I became an American Airlines flight attendant. In April 2023, I was laid off for a second time. This time from my third career as a healthcare IT Business Analyst. I had been there for almost 9 years. I started out as a data steward temp, and within a year, I was promoted to associate business analyst as I pick up on things very quickly. I lead with curiosity and tenacity. Getting laid off that second time gave me so many feelings. I was frustrated, unemployed, and learning just how flexible I could be. It gives, “people shouldn’t need to be resilient or flexible as those words should be saved for things.”

In other cultures, they frown upon that lack of work/life balance, which the older I get, the more I understand.

In April 2020, I was a healthcare IT Business Analyst, release manager, and data steward. When everyone sheltered in place, creating their quirky at-home office, I found myself being the telephone between the onshore (United States) and offshore (India) team. We didn’t have the tech infrastructure for the entire team to be online at once, so, me being the business analyst and the glue of the team, I cut my shift in half. I spent four hours in Eastern Standard Time and four hours Indian time, with a large chunk of the middle of my day empty. We were in healthcare, we didn’t have time to wait around and figure it out, and in true fashion, I jumped at the challenge. It was a wild time that went way beyond the twenty-one days to flatten the curve. I had somehow ended up in one of the most stressful industries, all while being the mayor of my town at the same exact time.

Back at American Airlines, we had a quote that sticks with me even on the ground. We must be flexible like palm trees.

Life in the United States is leveraging your flexibility. I’ve been to other countries in South America, and it was not nearly as stressful. There’s this everything is urgent thing we have going on in the US, which makes very little feel urgent after a while.

My entire career thus far has been about flexibility and transferable skills. I went to school for writing and mass media communications. That writing skill has gotten me pretty far. Learning how to write user stories and business requirement documents was a gem of a skill in technology because AI is having trouble picking up on tone and whatnot.

Every April, the universe wants to see how far I can stretch my optimism and adaptability with one year more challenging than the last, but I absolutely lean into the idea of spring and change and the idea of no rain, no flowers. Just to find out that every spring, my garden turns out beautiful. As an optimist who always expects an unpredictable April, I don’t panic but pivot, and as anxiety-inducing as it is every April, I grow a little resilient as that rose that grew from concrete.