Thursday, October 11, 2012

The Power of Positive Thinking (or something else appropriately cliched)

A few weeks ago I received some worrisome news: the director of the organization I work for called me into his office, and explained that the grant responsible for 25% of my salary had not been approved for the next fiscal year (the year for this particular grant is October 1 - September 30 - yes, you read that right - the lovely folks in Washington let us know about a week before the end of the fiscal year that the grant had not been approved for 2013).  I certainly didn't have as rough a time as the coworker whose position is 100% funded by the grant, and is being laid off at the end of October.

I was a little panicked at first; I had to temper my own stress because I, at least, was going to maintain at least 3/4 time employment, which is a heck of a lot better than none, but is not enough to keep our little family afloat.

I've been helping P with proofreading her resume; I've looked online to see what other jobs are available (not much); I've talked to friends and family; primarily, though, I've stuck to my guns on the whole "think positive thoughts" thing.

I believe the hype behind books like The Secret (to an extent, pretty much just the good stuff), the more good I put out, the more good I get back.

Each time I started to freak out a little big, I'd just give myself a mini-pep talk, and that worked, as I've not found myself hyperventilating or crying, so I'm pretty sure I'm just fine.

Today, I finally got the official news, my job description & duties have been modified, and I am officially going to stay as full-time.  I'll be doing different work about 1/4 of the time, but that is A-Okay with me - it'll keep it from getting stale, right?

If you find yourself freaking out over some bad news, feel free to print out my little note and repeat the words to yourself.
Trust me, these words are quite effective.

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