Moving up, but not out
It is an intentional choice, you know, that I don’t talk about work stuff with you, my dear readers. I believe life is so much more than the work we do, and so I seldom share that part of my life here.
But today, I’m going to share something about my full-time job, for two reasons:
I’m very proud of myself.
I normally would NOT share something like this because of how others might feel.
Here goes…I got promoted at work!
My new role is VP, Business Operations globally. (I want to point out the intentional choice of words here. I intentionally name the role and do not say, “I am the VP….” We are not our jobs! And with that I am done pedantically kicking that dead horse.)
Old Jess would have tried to downplay this occasion, but current Jess – who’s working on not owning other people’s discomfort – is very proud of themself. You see, in the past, when I would share things that I was proud of, there would be certain people who would minimize my accomplishments, making me feel small or guilty for ‘rubbing it in’ when they did not get something also. I’m in a place now where I can proudly speak my joy AND hold compassionate space for the others’ pain, if needed. I love that journey for me!!
Anyhoo, in this new role I get to work with amazing people from all around the world to build and improve processes and systems for the people that use them. That’s sorta my thing that I love to do and I’m really, really good at it too! So, it feels awesome to be recognized for it and paid accordingly. And what’s even more amazing, I get to do this all from the comfort of my home as a remote employee. I deserve this. But even as I type that, there is this nagging voice in the background that says, “Are you sure about that? You sure you should be there?”
Chuck and I have had this ongoing conversation for the past 18 years with the general theme of “We aren’t supposed to be here.” Meaning, as two poor welfare kids from Gritterville, USA (aka Niles, MI), we are continually astonished to find ourselves in situations or groups where nobody else is like us. I’m sort of feeling that vibe this week as I let it sink in. It was an unrealistic dream for me as a teenager to think that I would be able to travel the world, speak the languages that I worked so hard to learn, and meet lovely humans to enjoy life together. And yet, here we are. Life is funny that way. For some, things never seem to work out. While for others, things just seem to fall into place, almost magically. I won’t pretend that I know why or how this happens. I’ll just say that I’m very grateful to be in the latter camp.
Wishing you safety, kindness and all the fun you can endure. It is the Nelson Family way.