Just Don't Let It Bother You

 I've been laid off three times in my life.  "Restructuring," "saving money," "streamlining..." whatever the reason, it's hard to take.  If you're a pragmatic person, you know that it wasn't personal; that the decision was not based on you as a worker.  If you're someone like me, you feel like you've done something wrong. I mean, I was told explicitly that my most recent layoff was not because of my work.  I was told I was a valued employee.  All I heard was, "Blah blah blah, you're terrible and we're glad to be clear of you."  Ok, that's a tad dramatic, but when you're a generally insecure person like me, it is hard not to feel hurt.  The part of my brain that is (sometimes) sensible knows it was a 'business decision.' When I got laid off the first time, it was the first time I had been without a job in 20 years.  I'd been earning money since I was 14!  I was only refereeing minor soccer games,...

How do you know an expression or a slang word has run its course?  When a 40-something lady blogger uses it! But, of course, I don't mean that this year has been 'sick' in the way the cool kids say it.  I have literally been sick for a good portion of 2022.  It's not 'sick' like I was back in 2017 when I was awaiting cancer surgery either, so, you know, I'm trying to keep it all in perspective, but still...it's been annoying. The year started out with a round of isolation due to a Covid diagnosis in the family.  We were all together on Christmas Day, so we all had to isolate and get tested.  Thankfully, this was the first exposure to the annoying virus since it all started, so we were lucky in that regard.  And, of course, it was probably the super-mild, 'you might not even notice you have it' omicron variant, so no big deal, right???  But, off to the testing site Husband and I went.   I hate to play into stereotypes and everything, but you k...

 Does anybody like job interviews? Seriously.  Does anyone ever enjoy them?  I'm sure we've all walked away from one thinking, "Huh. That went pretty well." But is there anyone out there who enjoys the process?  I suppose if you have actual confidence in yourself and your skills you might.  In other words, if you're a normal person who doesn't over-analyze and over-dramatize and overthink absolutely everything you do, you might not mind the interaction with a potential employer.  You might walk in there thinking, "I'm qualified for this job!  I like talking about myself.  Let's go!" Being a decidedly not-normal person, my thought process is slightly different.  It goes something more like this: "Oh lord.  I suppose I could do this job.  But my skills don't match the keywords in the job posting exactly.  They're never going to look at my resume.  And I don't want to lie about my skills.  That would be wrong.  I su...

For a few years now, I've harboured a secret dream of becoming a full-time home baker.  I do love the process of baking, and I especially love the decorating part.  Making birthday cakes for people makes me happy.  I love experimenting and trying new things, and springing the results on my family at our weekly dinners.  Don't worry.  I haven't killed any of them yet.  It can be stressful and hectic, but I love it. When working through a bout of work malaise a couple of years ago, John asked me what I wanted to do.  My answer was to bake and to do freelance voiceover work,  They were both jobs I could do from home where I am definitely at my happiest.  I mean, that's where the dog is!  And it involved doing two things I love.  I'd never thought about the particulars of either one.  I'm not really a 'think about the particulars' kind of girl most of the time.  In my jobs, I'm fantastic at details.  When it comes to my o...

 Two weeks ago, I lost my job.  I was laid off due to that old chestnut, 'restructuring.'  My team and I were expecting changes at some point, as that seemed to be the way things were going, but it's still a bit of a kick in the pants when it happens.  I was quite taken by surprise on the day it happened, but quickly remembered that we thought this was probably coming. When leaving a job, I'm sure everyone would agree that it's better to sashay out the door of your job and head right into a new one.  I didn't get to sashay.  I didn't get to break up with them.  They broke up with me.  And now, I've got to start again. I am not good with change.  Resistant to change is more like it.  I'm not sure why; I just hate when I can't do things the way I used to.  Perhaps it's a symptom of getting older.  We had to start using a new program at my former job, and I found it SO difficult.  I mean, why couldn't we just do things the wa...