Home Again

One of my favorite bosses, the one who really taught me the most about my current job and how to just BE in a corporate environment, gave me the best personal and professional bit of advice I've ever heard.

You don't always know what your limit is before you reach it. The trick is recognizing when you've hit it and to do something about it.

I realized while I was on my little toasty hiatus last weekend that I've hit my limit on a number of things. A lot of it has to do with work. I got into the business I'm in completely by accident, fate, whatever. You could say I ended up in Minneapolis by accident, but that's not really the truth: I chose to come here instead of sticking it out in DUluth and being poor until the right job opened up for me. I could've chosen differently: a different state, a different country, a different move. But I came here because a job opportunity seemed to fit and I thought I'd give it a year and move back "home." A year turned into 9 years and a job change into something I'm pretty good at. And bores the hell out of me.

I've hit my limit with this city and with this job. I've hit my limit with a couple of other things too, but most of it's just the damn area and the cube-farm I'm stuck in. I know, I have nothing to complain about: I actually have a really good, stable, relatively high paying job with kick-ass benefits. Interestingly enough, the benefits are a direct reflection of the mind-numbing boring nature of the work: employee retention is important becuase it's a weird niche and the learning curve is long.

It'll take 6 months or more to find something else in another state. A state with a warmer climate, the ocean within a few miles, and a decent lifestyle that we'd both enjoy...yup, it'll take a while. But it's time to stop thinking "someday" about all the things I want to do with my life and start DOING them.

Oh, if only I could get my husband to move to Ireland...