Blog, Blog, Blog......

Always know if the juice is worth the squeeze.

In February of 2009, life as I had known it was about to change. I was aware that this major shift was imminent but what I didn’t realize was that this turning point would forever impact every single facet of my being.

Prior to that I’d been happily employed (or as happily as one can be when taking a situation for granted) at a firm where I enjoyed the work, liked and in some cases adored my colleagues and was handsomely compensated. Due to the recession, these glory days were about to draw to a close and I optimistically felt this was the highly anticipated reprieve I’d been waiting for to recalibrate my career path. Problem was, I’d subconsciously desired a complete “overhaul” and at the very outskirts of my mind sensed I would be leveled in the process. You know the saying, “Careful what you wish for because you just might get it”. In hindsight, it’s very clear that what you want and what you believe aren’t always in sync.

Nonetheless, I naively took to the free time as some sort of unplanned vacation. After all, I deserved it, right? That’s a rhetorical question because anyone who knows me knows that I often indulge myself even when it doesn’t make great sense. Self gratification indeed; I’ve been known to act impulsively.

I took time to travel, learned how to surf (still a work in progress) and pondered what I would be doing with the rest of my life. Mind you, it’s not as though I was just starting out.  I’d been working since I was 16 years old and spent the past two decades cultivating an executive career. No, this was more of a mid-life crisis of consciousness and during this time, I toyed with many ideas that I thought would spur my interests and help me gracefully transition from the very comfortable lifestyle I was living right into the next. Crickets…….

Let’s see, I entertained becoming a voice over actor, to the point that I had a professionally prepared demo and purchased a brand new microphone so that I could get right on it. The box is still unopened. I revisited the idea of working in commercials, thought about writing a book or going back to school…I think you get the picture. It’s not that I was disinterested in any of these things but more so overwhelmed with the what, when & how to start.  Not so much procrastination as paralyzation but the end result is the same.

Frankly, I get so mired in the details that I tend to lose sight and the motivation to forge ahead with so many of my interests. I love to say that great ideas are a dime a dozen because it’s putting them into action that’s difficult. Yeah, I have an entire arsenal of practical advice that has no real meaning unless employed. Ahem…note to self.

Ultimately this is what led to the idea of starting a blog. Seemed easy enough in theory, didn’t require too much front end work and a good way to just get that creative energy flowing. Not bad, it only took two and half years to put together a remedial blog that most 5 year olds could easily upstage. Point is, you have to begin somewhere.

I admit that I’m not overly excited about having my writing abilities (or lack thereof) publicly assessed but I’m not terribly concerned at the moment about a deluge of traffic. It’s like the monster that lives underneath your bed; not real just in your head.

So here it is; my first blog post ever. Perhaps the beginning of the end but undoubtedly an integral part of my ensuing journey to “destination unknown”. Mind you it will be a veritable hodgepodge of ideas, subjects and philosophies sprinkled with occasional punctuation and grammatical errors (optimistic) and plenty of run on sentences.

“A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new.” –Albert Einstein