Sunday, March 8, 2009

Alternatives (My Sacred Life, Sunday)

I'm still actively seeking to find an opportunity to show up and offer all I have to some company which will not realize how lucky they are right away, but will come to know it soon enough.

For any folks who are joining this conversation for the first time, I have been at work looking for work for some months now. My job is to find a job.

I have learned the great joy of flexibility and adaptability. In fact, given the slim pickins I'm seeing right now, I am actively pursuing training so as to take advantage of my big expanses of available hours and to add some really cool initials after my name.

Colorado, my home for decades, is a state which does better by its unemployed residents than do some states. Because the company I worked for most recently had a large presence in South Carolina, I have come to hear of the horrific treatment that state offers its citizens who have been caught in the economic downturn.

Not surprisingly (it is always true that we are blessed), I am once again counting my blessings and feeling overwhelmingly grateful.

My most-recent adventure with the Colorado folks has garnered me a slot in a CCNA class (no worries if this is a nonsense set of letters to you: suffice it to say, it is a good area of knowledge to leap into if one is involved in IT infrastructure) which will enhance my list of skills and make employing me that much easier to justify.

I'm pursuing other training opportunities which may prove to be even more valuable for the long term. More on that as it transpires.

My Sacred Life post today is simple and to the point: if life offers you poop, go into the fertilizer business. There is great personal growth to be experienced!

6 comments:

Lynilu said...

Rick, I don't know your area of expertise, but I wonder if you've considered some sort of free-lancing. That would allow you to stay at home for the most part, continue to enjoy the flexibility. Just a thought.

Just what is your "field"?

Before my hub died, I quit my job and did "free-lance social work," or more gooder sounding, private practice. I loved it because I was able to work around his extensive medical needs schedule. I was so spoiled that I knew I wouldn't cry if I never had a paid job again. Luckily I went directly into retirement after he passed on.

I certainly wish you the best in finding a position that suits you.

Rick Hamrick said...

Lyn--you are exactly right that free-lancing or contracting is a great alternative today. In my case, though, we have family medical issues which make having full-medical insurance coverage a necessity.

I'm a career IT guy, although I will deny it if pressed. After all, I've only been doing IT stuff for 35 years...why should anyone interpret that as a career??

Thanks, my friend, for your good wishes.

Olivia said...

Rick,

I wish you a job with the medical coverage you desire but also with some of the advantages of consulting/free-lancing. As such a hard and independent worker, I think you would thrive if you were to be able to work outside a corporate setting---or perhaps in an innovative corporate setting.

I like the picture and the image.

I was reading to day in a wonderful book about the spiritual practice of not knowing, of being lost. I like this image too, to describe a waiting and a watching that ends in what we do not know.

Peace and much love,

O

Kelly said...

This is such solid advice (about the manure). These past two years have been my time to explore that idea for the first time. I send my heartfelt wishes for an exciting job with benefits to come your way soon.

Rick Hamrick said...

O--your imagined scenario for me would be delightful, and I'll let you know all about it as soon as I find it.

I'm a big proponent of not knowing, yet not feeling any sense of fear from that not knowing...just the joy of not knowing.

Kelly--thanks for your support. I love your blogger head shot!

GreenishLady said...

I have been really out of the loop, because I hadn't picked up on this change in your life until just recently, and I have nothing to offer except the hope that the right thing will turn up for you. I love your attitude, though!