Like riding a bike.....

I have been back at work for one whole week now and its just like the saying - its just like riding a bike -you never forget how. But for me - going back to work is probably more like the last time I got my big frame on a bike - not a pretty sight, very unsteady and my thighs started to burn faster than you could say "giddy up" :-) So going back to work has been like that! :-) Well, maybe not so dramatic but definitely an interesting ride so far.

As you know - the three people that read my blog - make that four because I email it directly to Mr M ;-) I have been off work for eight months... which in the life of a reduced-to-one income family is one pile of unpaid bills too long - so going back to work has been a godsend in that sense....

Here are the things that I have learnt about getting back onto this bike called employment.

1) Be happy to have a job
I thought that when I finished work, with my set of qualifications and experience, I would be marketable, and therefore anyone would be happy at the least and possibly falling over themselves at the most :-) to have me on their staff. Well, after my first rejection, I thought ok - so I didn't want to work there - but after the third one without making a short list - I knew I was in big do-do. The trouble, as the days moved to weeks and months is that there are a lot of people out there that are just as marketable if not more, and we are all competing in a job market the size of a broom closet.. Added to my concern was my realisation that I am getting older as well, and that wasn't hard enough I was competiting with kids that are just out of university - fresher, less experienced and therefore possibly cheaper to hire. True, I have my Masters degree - but really, even that qualification is aging..... so when this particular job came up and I went on to interview - I was very concious of how blessed I was to even have got that far! I will always be happy to have a job.

2) I never want to forget
My sister asked me a really good question that stumped me and I have kept it in my mind ever since. She asked me if I was going to start spending stupendously again - well, these weren't her words but mine but you get the idea ;-) and I answered - "I am never going back there again, because I know what it is like to go without!".... So as I have just spent more in the weekend than I have in the past eight months - I HAVE to remember what is like to go without - otherwise I haven't learnt anything!!

3) The joy of money
Recently, I was paid for some contract work I was doing and the first thing I did was get uniforms for my sons and some clothes that they needed and it made be happy. I took my son to A & E and paid for that and it brought me joy because a few months earlier my other son had to sit his illness out until I could get to a cheap Dr. Having money has brought joy, and I only experience this joy because I have known what it was like to have none.

4) Things are things
Lessons are repeated because people like myself need to be reminded every now and then... and this little episode of mine has been no different... A week or so before my mother passed away I wanted to buy her something for mother's day. I remember being in a shop in the Sylvia Park mall when this overwhelming realisation came upon me that there was NOTHING worth buying because she was not going to be able to take it with her!! That was five years ago, and I had forgotten that. But after being out of work - I was reminded again, that things are things.

5) Priorities
Before I finished work I remember saying "I don't know when my children were no longer my priority". When they were little I had to be there when they finished school and then that turned into being away days, nights, weekends, and just not being around only to wake up one day and all of a sudden they were what I called "self raising flowers". Although said in jest, it cut me deep because being a mother is my one thing that I want to do well..... so I finished work and sorted out my priorities and now putting that into action is in play. I am doing really well 8 days later and look forward to building on the great start of coming home, leaving work behind and being present for the family ;-) There is one thing I know for certain - failure is not an option this time round because I have some dear friends and a all-seeing sister to keep an eye on me!!

So these are my lessons for my first week back at work.... it really is just like riding a bike - you never forget how to it... and no matter how ugly it might look - it's all about the ride. Ask me how I'm going after six months ;-)

Yours in friendship,

Mxo