This year’s Wisconsin winter has infected my attitude this week: Bleak. The horrible thing I was pussy-footing around last week took on reality. Although I had an almost immediate job interview after having been laid off at the end of the first full week of January, this past week reinforced the worries and odd responsibilities joblessness brings to a family. Some of the hoops I’ve had to jump through even remind me of the legal tangles of the Dickens story that inspired the title of my post.
So I’m sharing this week’s image as a reminder to myself. It’s an interesting mash-up of Corrie ten Boom’s “Worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow, it empties today of its strength,” and Leo Buscaglia’s “Worry never robs tomorrow of its sorrow, it only saps today of its joy.” However, apparently it has its own creator: Dale Partridge. In fact, he has a whole post with three key recommendations to help untrain your mind from its inclination to worry. And his site has a bunch of other useful reminders of how to find happiness in your life, so is worth exploring further.
I will grant myself the week of depression I just lived, and be happy I managed to turn in all my classwork on time. The weather was also above 30F two of the days last week, so we got out for two walks of a total of 4.13 miles.
I also managed to release the novelette that hadn’t even been part of my original plan for this year. It was even exciting to watch as it picked up sales faster than any previous release I’ve yet had.
All that to say… apparently I can’t write new fiction from that uncertain mental space. At least I couldn’t last week. I’ll be trying again this week. (And… if anyone knows of an open position for a project manager, I’m in the market and available on short notice.) In the meantime, check out how my fellow ROW80ers are doing with their goals.
I learned in a rather unconventional way this afternoon that my position had been eliminated. Thus, a four-year association ends. So my focus here is going to shift for a bit to reflect my job search.
That said, I’m hopeful that the work I’ve invested and experience I’ve built up over the past few years in social media will help me move on quickly from this rather abrupt change in my life. So here are some of my qualifications:
Anyone who has any thoughts, tips, or leads for me, please leave a comment. Any help is much appreciated. Thank you.