More Questions Than Answers - Post 1

Tuesday, January 9, 2007
Personal Temperature: Tired & Reflective

So, here it is 11:30pm on a Tuesday and I am sitting on our leather couch watching The Husband feed our four month old baby girl her final bottle of the night and it occurs to me that here it is January and we do not have a plan. I am a born planner; and I emerged from the womb with pencil and calendar in hand. Okay, so perhaps I am being a bit dramatic, but not by much. Ask The Husband he will agree with me. But I digress…

We have no plan. No plan of action, no plan of attack, no strategic plan, no five year plan, nada, nothing. And a plan is essential because this year The Husband and I will embark on our first professional dual job search. A few months ago I made the trek to Borders to see if I could find a book that would help us prepare for the adventure ahead but unfortunately there isn’t a book entitled “Dual Job Search for Dummies” or “Your Guide to a Successful Dual Job Search” so basically we are winging it. For The Husband, “winging it” is the perfect plan. He is someone who believes that we need to roll with the punches, let life run its course, not stress out over our job search because we have always found jobs so why would this time be any different. (It is during one of theses speeches that I begin to wonder how I could have made a life commitment to someone whose philosophy of planning differs so much from my own. But, I loved the man, so what choice did I have but to over look such flawed logic.) While I appreciate The Husband’s opinion on this matter he is clearly wrong and we cannot sit back and be passive participants in life, but rather we must grab the proverbial “job bull” by the horns and become actively involved in molding our future.

But where do we begin? Do we do a regional search or a national search? Should we both look simultaneously or should one of us start looking now and the other one later? Whose next step is most important? What if I find a great job but there are no opportunities for him in that area or vice versa? How long will we be in our next positions? What if we both find great jobs that we love but in completely different areas, how do we decide whose career comes first? What about The Daughter? What are her needs? Can we as individuals and our marriage take this much stress? AHHHHHHH!!!! I can already feel my blood pressure rising and a stress headache is slowly starting to form behind my eyes. It is moments like this that I am glad there isn’t a chocolate cake in the apartment because I could easily devour it all in a misguided effort to make myself feel better. I am not sure where to begin this process and I honestly have more questions than I do answers, but maybe that is as it should be. Maybe we have to face all the unknown questions and then in seeking the answers we find our way.

Since I work better when I have a direction and a deadline I am giving myself homework. My Homework to be completed by Wednesday, January 17, 2007 is to sit down with The Husband and compile a list of questions pertaining to any and all aspects of our dual job search. I can already see him rolling his eyes over this….