Sometimes right back where you started from is right where you belong.

As the year began I wrote about what I want.  I have had to travel a little bit deeper and really think about what I want for a job, work, a career (not sure which of those I am seeking right now).

I have been thinking a lot these past few months about what I want and need from work.  I have applied for a number of jobs and am starting to be offered phone interviews.  This is certainly forcing me to truly understand what I want from a job so I can speak to that with conviction and passion in these phone interviews.

At the retail gig I am currently in we sell greeting cards, probably the best assortment of greeting cards in any store I have been in, and I am a huge fan of the well meaning greeting card.  Anyway, I came across this quote on one of them yesterday and the light bulb started to glow, "Sometimes right back where you started from is right where you belong." 

I have been thinking a lot lately about my start in higher education, why I chose to do this work, when I knew I was making the greatest impact as well as gaining the most satisfaction.

When I started my professional career I worked at Colorado College, a small liberal arts college, in Colorado Springs, Colorado. I was a Resident Director and oversaw a Freshman Residence Hall.  This was probably one of the most challenging and rewarding,stressful and enjoyable, overwhelming and affirming times of my career.  I really connected with the students, connected even more with my colleagues and felt supported and appropriately challenged.  With the exception of the stress and overwhelming feelings those are the things I want from my career.  

I need to feel some of those things I felt then, I need to connect with why I originally started this work, I need to know I am in a place that supports me.  And as I have grown and matured I also know that I need to have a work life balance.  Also, important is to to focus on what I need as opposed to what I want.

I am slowly gaining back my lost confidence and this job search process has already started to test that.  Interviewing and writing cover letters will continue to push me to evaluate and reevaluate what I want and more importantly what I need.