Day 1

The first 2 hours are spent walking around the house picking up washing and trash, wondering why are you are only one who likes a tidy house.  As for the kids bedrooms -  can I call in the army bomb squad or is a full hazardous substances containment procedure required? Let's just shut the door - it will go away, especially if they are grounded till its tidy!

So we all dream of that first day of no work being a long lazy lie in - well remember to turn the alarm off!  6am alarm went off as normal - doh!  Well at least I don't have to jump out of bed, a more relaxed wake up - or not.  The dog is still in the 6am walk time zone and the kids are up fighting for the shower. Sigh.

Jobs, there is always jobs to do at home that are a barrier to relaxing, a balance will be found and soon!   Given I am gardening leave now - one should do some gardening - pulling up one weed and putting out the garden recycling bin counts right?

Then swim, my bliss.... 40 lengths with a friend to chill out and relax.   The local pool is great as we have a hot tub to relax in after too.  I see this being regular - but must balance it with the cost.  Budgets are everything now!    But there is still enough for a cup of tea afterwards, with no time constraints a trip to the beach to a favourite cafe is allowed.



Home and homework - I have been lucky enough to be referred to a career coaching programme, session 1 was on the last day of work and I have weekly sessions for the next 4-5 weeks.  Why?  A lot of people have said they found it very beneficial and wished they had done it years ago.  So now is a good time as any to give myself time and go through this process.  The aim is to figure out who I am, what I want from a job, what are my values, drivers, strengths and how to present these in my CV.   This will then help we understand what and where my next steps will be and where I want to get to.   I have already done the odd strengthsfinder, TMI process so have a good understanding of my strengths and values, so some won't be too much of a surprise...or will it?

First learning - status and material rewards are the bottom of my list of drivers.

First Steps

Welcome to my leap of faith.

Like many people the first steps of a new journey are often long considered, with many questions and lots of doubt about the path you are about to embark on such as - can I afford it, where will my security net be, what if I can not get another job, what job do I want, what if get depressed?

These questions are no doubt balanced with - I hate this job/Manager, there is not progression opportunities here, I can not carry on here, my self esteem has gone, I don't want to get out of bed and face work today.....

Often when we get to this point we also struggle to find another job, as we are not in a positive space.

I am no different, it's taken far too long to get to the stage where I said enough was enough and handed in my resignation with no job to go to.  A brave leap of faith.

So here I am on day 2, for some strange and inexplicable reason I wanted to start a blog, like many before me.  Maybe as a cathartic exercise, maybe as a resilience and recovery exercise?  The reasons don't matter, what matters is that I am here and I am taking a step forward every day and happy with the choices I have made for myself.