Feels like Sunday!

Happy Easter! 

It definitely feels like a gorgeous Sunday today.

No chocolate eggs for me, but I did sneak a piece of divine flour less chocolate cake for afternoon tea. I'd show you a picture but it's all gone - too delish!

I've been down at the cultural precinct this afternoon soaking up some sunshine, enjoying the green spaces and high-ceilinged spaces, under the pre tense of planning my forthcoming trip. 

Sadly no planning has yet been done, it's been too gorgeous a day! 

Check it out:

It's a beautiful day to be outside!

Work and changing jobs

So it seems my version of 'regular blogging' leaves a bit to be desired!

I've been on a bit of a journey in the last 12-18 months after leaving a job which made me seriously miserable and was less than helpful to my health.

It's surprised me how long it's taken me to get back to feeling like my normal self; mostly because in the downhill unravelling of myself which led up to said leaving-of-job I didn't really notice the change. But boy was it some change!

I'm enjoying once more being able to go for long hikes / walks / bike rides without falling asleep immediately afterwards, and I'm also enjoying having enough energy that I want to spend time with people again. 

An aside, social anxiety is a fucker.

Anyhow, I left my job, had some semi-deliberate time off (the  Christmas / New Years period is not the most abundant for job-hunting), did a bunch of temp work, made some new friends, and then found a job with a company that is amazing. 

Now I'm learning a new role with them which is challenging but very interesting. It's challenging in some ways because by the nature of it, it contains some of the aspects of my previous job which at the time were quite negative experiences for me. 

It's an interesting task to re-train my brain that those aspects are not necessarily negative in and of themselves, when you have a supportive team, manager, and organisation. Which is nice! :)

And to think...at the time that I left, I felt so stuck that I had put off leaving because I couldn't imagine there'd be another job which wouldn't just be more of the same. 

If you are thinking of leaving a job which is making you miserable, take heart, you have options, even when you think you don't. 

Resources which helped me:

"Who moved my cheese?" by Spencer Johnson
"What colour is your parachute?" by Richard N. Bolles
"Crush it!" by Gary Vaynerchuk
"How to solve our human problems" by Geshe Kelsang Gyatso - I went to some kadampa buddhism day courses and teachings as well, which were great.

Above all else, make sure you put some good networks in place before you leave - LinkedIn profile can be your best friend, and don't be afraid to reach out to people who work in your desired field / organisation, particularly those who are in hiring manager positions or human resources. A great recruiter can be your best asset, too. :)