Thu 6 Mar 2008
A few months ago, I was tired.
I was tired of working long hours for little recognition and even littler pay. I was tired of trying to ferret information I needed out of subject matter experts who were more interested in the latest office gossip than they were getting a job done well. I was tired of seeing people with less experience and talent get rewarded for work I had done. I was just tired of being tired.
Now that I’m not so tired, I can look back and clearly see that times like those are not good times to be making life changing decisions.
Tired Maggy thought it was time to step back a little, time to take a position that would be easy, time to move away from strategy sessions, company-changing decisions and endless headaches. Tired Maggy thought that a technical writing job would be easy and would allow her to rest and avoid headaches.
Tired Maggy had no idea how bored she’d be or how unfulfilled she’d be in a position like this.
Now that I can see through the eyes of one who is no longer tired, I’ve learned a big lesson about myself. Easy mode stresses me out. I need a challenge in order to be fulfilled. I need to be able to make a difference. I can’t just sit back on the sidelines and watch the action fly by without wanting to stick my foot in and trip things up a little.
Once I faced the facts, I realized that, while I am a writer who can author just about anything, the real me — the core me — is more of a communications strategist. Corporate communications can be daunting, but it is in that capacity that I’m most energized and fulfilled. I love how it feels when the cogs start turning, when I can look at the big picture and see the little things that can be tweaked to improve the business. I love being able to write a public relations piece that highlights the positives and minimizes the negatives. I love working out the particulars of crisis communication and then seeing the bad situation blow over as a result of my work. Most of all, I love that I am so good at knowing the right rhetorical stance to take on difficult communication.
So, as much as I like the people I work with, particularly my boss who is probably one of the smartest, nicest women I have known in the business world, I’m going to actively begin searching for another position in the field of corporate or public communications/public relations. Securing such a position would bring me back to the real me, and as the song goes, I gotta be me.
Just making this decision lifts a huge weight off my shoulders. I’m now on a personal communications mission, and the subject I’m highlighting is me! What better way to exercise my rhetorical wings and get them in shape again?
Wish me luck!
March 10th, 2008 at 7:01 am
Here is some wished luck for you…
You can listen to the song at…
http://play.rhapsody.com/roberthazard/bluemountain/wishmeluck?didAutoplayBounce=true
Robert Hazard is a Folk singer today, actually wrote “Girls Just want to have fun” 20 some years before and was a 80’s Philadelphia rock legend in the 80’s who I saw play probably “too many times”. This is form a Self made CD “Blue Mountain”, and he has a new CD Troubadour on the Rykodisc label.
I shot some photos of him this past weekend in Cape May at the Singer and Songwriter showcase where he was the Musical Keynote and they are on my Myspace page at:
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=7904059
March 10th, 2008 at 7:11 am
Also a poorly done YouTube clip of him singing Wish Me Luck…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1evA3R0Vkw
March 10th, 2008 at 10:28 am
Oh, I really like that, Brian! Thanks for sharing it, and thanks for the luck! I can use all of that I can get!
Hope all is well with you guys!
Maggy