I'm BAAAAACK :)

I’ve been one busy lady for the past year or so and I’ve been so busy executing with life that I haven’t had time to write down my musings, reflections and advice. Blogging itself is pretty therapeutic and I feel the need to get back into it. I hope you missed me! I sure missed doing this! I was struggling as I couldn’t put my thoughts together into a coherent post due to being pulled in so many different directions by so many different people. I’ve since adjusted to that piece of my life and can begin to put my thoughts together again. For this post, I want to update everyone with my life and a bit of struggles that I’ve had to endure. Not all of them, but at least the tip of the iceberg.

Since my last post, work has become my life to a degree. I’m currently holding down 3 jobs, not because I have to, because I want to. And all of these jobs are becoming more and more demanding as I advance within each of them. Firstly, if you don’t already know, I’m a Human Resources Assessment Consultant. Most people ask me what that means and within the first 10 seconds of me trying to explain it, they glaze over and change the subject. What I do is really cool; at least I think so. I think Human Resources gets a bad rap because of the insane things it has to deal with sometimes and the perceived injustice on the part of the employee. Sometimes there is an injustice, sometimes there isn’t, but because it is at work and we have to have these seemingly RIDICULOUS rules, HR gets the brunt of the attack. The only thing that I’ll say about that is if there is a crazy rule or procedure in place, it’s probably because a crazy employee made it that way. It only takes one time, one person to make things sound crazy.  

But to clarify, I don’t work internally in HR. That means that I don’t work for a company and deal with that type of thing. I consult for them. They basically say, HEY WE HAVE A PROBLEM! CAN YOU HELP? And yes, I can! My main function is to understand what issues can be alleviated by an assessment. NOTE that I say ALLEVIATED, not solved. Human issues are never solved with one silver bullet. I think that realization is something that everyone really needs to understand and apply it to life, not only HR. Issues are complex, multilayered. A test/assessment won’t solve a problem as much as point you in the direction that you need to take or offer insight that might not have been as obvious. The coolest things that I experience is talking with people about what they do and why they like or dislike about their jobs, when I see a strong correlation between the assessment and our performance criteria and/or when I can design something that offers insight that is hard to get to. People who love what they do make what I’m doing worth it! I want people to be able to work in a job that supports them financially AND do something they actually like!  I’m assuming that you’ve glazed over but it still is pretty cool :)

My second job is a community manager for a large organization which means that I monitor social media accounts like Facebook and Twitter for them on nights and weekends. I felt like I got handed the keys to a Ferrari when I got the passwords to the social media accounts. My main job is to help people that are having issues with services, billing or just questions about things that they can do with their accounts. Sometimes people get really contentious, but when your things aren’t working or something is wrong, I expect a bit of frustration. The opportunity to help them drives me, even if I can’t do a whole lot. While this job is not nearly as complex as my consulting gig, I’m glad to have it and the new skills I’ve developed because of it. My team is great and I feel like I’m making a difference, even if it is small. 

My last job is dancing for the IFL team, the Texas Revolution. Yes, I am a PROFESSIONAL CHEERLEADER/DANCER! I get PAID to do that, how cool, right? What they don’t tell you is that your contracts with these types of teams stipulate workout regimens, appearance requirements and an overall attitude you must display. All of these are really straightforward, but it is hard to work out 3 times a week, work full time, dance and maintain sanity! I can tell you that all of those struggles are worth it to be able to perform in front of a crowd, be an instant role model for kids and having the opportunity to do something in line with my passion of dance. 

So yeah, I’ve been busy! All of these things offer a fulfillment for a different piece of me. I think the conventional way is to have 1 job and do 1 thing. “Find your niche” they say. Well, that isn’t enough. None of us are 1 dimensional. We are all very deep, multilayered, multitalented people with lots of interests. This past year has taught me that convention doesn’t fit me 100%, as I don’t think it completely fits anyone. I hope that you are pursuing your interests. Life does get busy and you have a lot of commitments to many people, but why do it if it isn’t worth doing?!

I’m BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACCCCCCCCCCCKKKKKKKKKK! And I can’t wait to share my thoughts and musings with y’all again!