Day Two hundred and three - Song for Zula

I had make a mistake. A huge mistake. I truly disliked my new job, I felt lost there, and out of place, and with the paltry training I'd been given, I felt completely unprepared to give the kind of IT support I was supposed to be giving. I had to ask people all the time how do something or the other, and the team leaders never seemed to have the time. I was feeling frustrated, but even so I decided to give it at least a month.

What a long month that was... nothing got better, I didn't feel like I was getting anywhere near the level I hoped I'd been, and soon enough I began having panic attacks before heading out to work. But this time I wasted no time and went straight to the hospital, where I was prescribed meds again and was given a medical leave. As can be imagined, this really didn't sit well with new employers, but I couldn't care less - this time I could afford to get that partial pay for a couple of months or so, especially as I'd gotten my severeance check from my previous job, which was a not so inconsiderable sum.

The way I figured it, I was giving myself a couple of well deserved months off. But I had a plan. Oh yes, I had a plan - and that was to return to the job I never should have left. So I kept being on medical leave until September or so, and then I called my previous manager - a guy who I always got along really well, and who had told me, when I left, that should I ever want to return, the doors would be always open to me - and after I tendered my resignation at the new job, I went back to my old one.

And let me tell you, what a relief that was. At least that part of my life had reverted back to normal. I imagined myself staying there for as long as I could - it was safe, it was stable, and I was pretty good at what I did. I needed a few days to get into my regular groove, but soon it was like I'd never left. And then sometime in November I got offered a chance to do something different at work.

My manager's boss asked me if we could have a conversation. She said that she'd thought that I had the right profile to help out with a corporate client, and if I agreed, I'd be working with them for the month of December, all expenses paid. including travel and accomodations when I had to go out of town. I jumped at the chance I was given - I wanted to show that not only I was back, I was ready and willing to maybe progress inside the company.

And though I didn't know it yet, the seeds for the next few years of my professional life were sown when I accepted that offer.