Monday, January 28, 2008

In need of a Professional Mission Statement, STAT!

This morning my lovely employer and I nearly had it out again. He arrived at work overly frustrated with the programmer working on the upgrade with him. He wasn't able to get in touch with said programmer and his frustration level increased to the point of taking it out on me. Oh wait I should say that he didn't think he was taking it out on me because when I flat out told him he was and he said no I'm not and it was this ridiculous exchange that ended stupidly and without any closure. BLAH, BLECH, YUCK, ICK.

I got to spend a fantastic night on Friday with a very dear friend getting dinner, shopping and watching a movie. She is an inspiration to me in this job hell because she escaped her own hell a little under a year ago. She is now settling in at her new position and loving every minute of it. So much so that she doesn't even think of it as work! Wha??? I've never had that. Never.

Work is work. A yucky, unfun, nasty way to pay the bills. It's not that I'm afraid of hard work because I'm really not. But does it always have to be SO hard? I think not. Take my lovely friend as an example. It can be wonderful. It can be fulfilling and rewarding. I want that. I have to create that some how no matter what.

So my assignment from therapy last week was to create my very own "professional mission statement". I'm balking a bit at the title of it but I certainly understand the reasoning behind it. By putting down my professional goal(s) in a written succinct form I'll be able to have a clear place to start when looking for my next job. Right now it feels like I'd be looking for a job that was something, anything other than this. That's not what I want to do. I want to have professional fulfillment. I know it's a lot to ask for in America where people are often forced to be happy with what they have and suffer through it because at least you have something. But I don't just want something. I want it all in both my professional and my personal life. So there!

I know that this mission statement won't solve all of the problems or be a magic bullet. I'm not expecting it to be. But I am hoping that it will help me focus my attention in a few places that might lead me to that "it hardly seems like work" goal. It has happened for others and now I want it to happen for me.