Monday, January 07, 2008

I'm ready

I first want to apologize for the depressing tone of the last couple weeks. Being faced with the possibility of losing your job is a bit unnerving, and it affected every facet of my life. Even though many of my friends were home, I got to go backpacking, my wife got a raise, and the holiday season came and went, I couldn't help being down in the mouth and sour in my mood. It wasn't pretty. Thankfully I've had some thoughtful and respected people in my life give me some very encouraging words in the last couple days, and my outlook is a bit different now.

Some questions...
1) So where do I sit in the company now? Where has all this left me?
2) What kind of conclusions did I come to?
3) Where do I go from here? What steps do I take next?

1) I reported to the other branch this morning. I have spoken to a few people within the company and I now know for sure the plan is to eventually remove me from employment. Furthermore, my boss had a moment of error this morning and accidentally said one of the platform positions needed to be cut. He tried to backtrack but it was all the proof I needed. The spot of bright news in this confirmation (if you can call it that) is that within the banking industry it is difficult to get rid of a person. There's a whole process that has to be followed, and that can take over a year. So unless they move me to an even further away branch and I just can't afford to make the drive, I'll stick this out as long as I need to.

2) I spent some time in the woods with some friends last week. In addition to the joy I felt being with those people, the quiet of the trees and the mountains gave me a lot of time to reflect and think. And when it was all over I came out ready to go. Does that mean I don't think my situation sucks anymore? Of course not, it still sucks really bad. But I needed to realize and then decide how I was going to deal with it. My conclusion is I'm just going to push forward. I still have a job, and I still have opportunities to pursue. So that's what I'm going to do.

3) Since it's clear the corporate machine is chewing me up and will eventually spit me out, I need to make other plans. I'm going to take a few days and get settled into my new place. After that the #1 goal is to find another job. That goal will be all I focus on and all my energy will be towards that end. Ell and I will be working on my resume, I'm going to check out the local Internet work sites, and I'll be looking into Monster and the other work sites on the WWW. Thanks to those friends I spoke of earlier, I have a few new ideas and I'm going to do everything I can to figure out how to chase those ideas. It's still scary, but now there is a tinge of excitement in the air.

Thanks again to all of you who have had me in your thoughts. I appreciate all of you and am honored to have you in my life. Thanks for letting me ramble and I promise to leave this topic alone except to share updates on the job search. Until then... here's to being great in O-8.

8 Comments:

Blogger Kimmy said...

We're praying for you Sam.

8:41 PM  
Blogger Andrew said...

Thanks for sharing. I have been thinking about you

10:55 AM  
Blogger Kyle said...

homelessness is always an option. I mean you know where the rescue mission is...

2:16 PM  
Blogger Zoooma said...

If it's a time of transition, you might find that not leaving it alone as far as blogging goes, might be a good thing. This could give you a good opportunity to just spout and get off your chest stuff that you want to release. If it's not interesting to anyone but helps you then so be it. But perhaps someone will be able to give some input that may be beneficial.

Just a thought.

In any case, keep the faith, my friend! I think I've said it before in a comment here and it's still true -- God won't put before anything you can't handle!

12:30 PM  
Blogger Brooke said...

I am on the other side of Ohio; however, I am praying for you. God has somthing in mind ;-)

8:01 PM  
Blogger Kyle said...

Sammy, I hope your first week at work hasn't been too harsh on you.

oh, and I replied to your comment on my blog.

11:44 AM  
Blogger Laura said...

Great in 0-8? How cheesy!
Yeah you were a bear, but with good reason. You were pushed into something that you did not want to do and still do not want to be doing. That you have come out of the "depths of despair" with as much excitement and anticipation doesn't suprise me. You never stay down for long and you always seem to know what step to take next even if finding out where to go next comes from the help of amazing friends and people that care deeply for you(and you know they do!) I am glad to be in this boat with you, change is exciting!

9:37 PM  
Blogger Laura said...

Commune, militia, co-op? Don't tread on me!

9:38 PM  

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