Change Morphs to Chance

I was part of a large layoff from Wells Fargo, the only place I had worked since emigrating from Great Britain many moons ago. It felt like a gut-punch at first. When my job disappeared so did part of my identity.

I wondered what I was meant to be. Similar questions came and went and came back again. After drinking my morning coffee, I had no one to see and nowhere to be. I vacillated. I procrastinated. And then I took some time off.

With time came a changed perspective, and I began to think about what was next. I knew I wanted to find more purposeful work.  Some years ago, I completed my degree (English/Communications) as an adult. I love to write—using words to inspire, persuade, inform and tell stories. I have always known in my heart that that is where my passion lies. Although communication has been a critical component of past jobs, I resolved to attempt to make this long-term passion into a much tighter focus. More a change of emphasis than a change of career—a full-time communications role.

It took a forced change to refocus my goals. I had drifted into a career working with mortgages and stayed because it was the easy thing to do, but there was always the nagging feeling I wasn’t doing what I was supposed to be doing. Sound familiar? Putting one foot forward and trusting my instincts seemed like a solid place to start: Be comfortable being uncomfortable.

Being without a job is scary for a myriad of reasons but I am learning that life has a way of challenging you to get closer to the person you want to be. That doesn’t have to be job-focused, but a job may help in reinventing yourself. 

Photo credit: Nataliya Vaitkevich

Fast Travels Time in the Rear View Mirror

After a lengthy hiatus, allinaword is active again!

What seems like only a few years since my last post is in reality much longer. As someone who loves to write, I am looking forward to posting my thoughts and comments regularly again.

Our world has changed much since my last post. This glance back from then to now takes a brief look at some of the major events in just two countries, Great Britain, where I grew up; and the United States, my adopted home.  

My last post speculated whether people in Scotland would vote to stay in the United Kingdom or choose to be an independent country.  We know now that they voted for the former, electing to remain part of the United Kingdom by 55-45 percent. But fault lines—that have widened over time—remain.

In another referendum two years later, in 2016, the majority of people in the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union by a narrow margin of 52-48 percent, formally exiting that body one hour before Big Ben rang in the New Year of 2020. 

Also that year Donald Trump won the US presidential election, beating Hillary Clinton in an upset, but was defeated four years later by Joe Biden, who became the 46th president. Between the two elections, the 41st president, George H.W. Bush—resident in the Oval Office when I arrived as an immigrant—died in 2018.

In the UK, the revolving door to 10 Downing Street opened and closed in quick succession as five prime ministers sat in office behind that famous black door.

Last Autumn Queen Elizabeth II, the epitome of stability and continuity, died at the age of 96 while in Scotland. An ever-constant in my life, the Queen was always there. I watched from across the Atlantic as her coffin moved somberly through the Scottish countryside, with thousands of people lining the route. 

The Queen’s reign spanned 15 British Prime Ministers, beginning with Winston Churchill and ending with Liz Truss. During that time there were 14 US presidents, Dwight D. Eisenhower, the first; Joe Biden, the last. The Queen was succeeded by Charles III, who was crowned king at Westminster Abbey earlier this month.

2020 was a momentous year. The world shut down as result of the coronavirus pandemic, leaving the US and the UK with many changes wrought in its wake. Remote work—not really widespread pre-pandemic—became commonplace with many workers reluctant to return to their offices. Behavioral changes such as social distancing, isolation and masking affected many of us. 

That same year, my city of Minneapolis witnessed the death of George Floyd at the hands of a policeman. The social unrest and demands for racial justice that followed touched many aspects of American life—sparking a reckoning of how American history is viewed—and spreading far beyond this nation’s borders.

In 2021, the United States also got an official new holiday, Juneteenth, commemorating the emancipation of enslaved African Americans. 

On a personal note, I finally became a US citizen late in 2022.  More on that in an upcoming post.

Photo Credit: Mark Neal - Photography (pexels.com)