WTF?!?
WTF?!? Seriously. I ask myself this question almost daily.
I am not supposed to be a 47 year old looking to reinvent herself.
I am supposed to be in front of a classroom full of students teaching them about the power of words. I am supposed to be pouring into the minds of tomorrow’s leaders not spending my days trying to understand LinkedIn and Upwork.
Seriously. WTF?!?
Ugh.
Let me provide some context.
In 2019 I landed my dream position. I was hired as a visiting lecturer at a major university.
Now that may not seem like a big deal but given that I spent the greater part of the last 15 years working as either an adjunct (part-time) college instructor or being a stay-at-home mom, this was as major.
I went from sitting on the couch to sitting in my very own office. I went from planning my week around trips to the grocery and Costco to having monthly department meetings. I went from wearing t-shirts and stretchy pants to wearing slacks and blouses that hadn’t seen the light of day consistently in at least 8 years. THIS WAS MAJOR!! I’m telling you.
Then in early 2020 the whispers of some crazy virus started.
Soon those whispers turned into rushed, “I heard” type of conversations.
By March they had morphed into a full-fledged “stop, pivot, and be flexible” discussion.
And in April, one conversation ended with: We no longer need your position.
Ugh.
Punch to the gut.
I, like so many others, limped my way through the summer secretly hoping that the pandemic would end and life would go back to normal…or at least normalish by fall.
But, as we all know, that didn’t happen.
Sigh.
I was able to pick up a couple classes as an adjunct in the fall but it was pretty clear about midway through that the likelihood of having a class or two (think steady paycheck) for the spring was not going to happen.
So now, months later, I am here trying to figure out WTF is next because it doesn’t look like higher ed. is going to bounce back any time soon.
Ugh.
This sucks. It really does.
Decisions, decisions.
Do I sit and wallow or do I try to reinvent myself?
I’m trying the latter cause the former did nothing but add pounds on the scale and inches to my waist.
Sigh.
The young, bright-eyed, full of energy woman I knew 25+ years ago has long since left the building. In her place is a tired, can barely keep her eyes open past 10:00PM woman who just wants to use her tried and true, old-school skill set to earn some income. Is that too much to ask?
Yes.
Yes it is.
Why?
Because there’s a time and place for an old-school approach, but that time is not now.
Bottom line is this: Times have changed and so must I.
So it’s time to put on my big girl panties and make it happen come hell or high water, tears or cheers. Gotta be like Nike and just “Do it!”
