Onwards and Upwards

So. The big news - and what's been keeping my posting light as of late - is that I accepted a new job two weeks ago. Seeing as I've never been very good at keeping secrets I thought it'd be smarter to say nothing at all then give even the slightest hint a change might be on the horizon as I went through the interview rounds. Plus, I'm superstitious about these kinds of things.

However, now that it's official and all systems are a go, I'm happy to spread the word. This new position is still with my current employer so I won't be leaving my office location or changing my commute or heading back to the new office drawing board knowing nary a soul as I roam the halls or head to meetings. But, my team, my work, my book list and the routine I've known for years is changing, drastically.

I'd be lying if I told you all these changes and differences didn't make me a little nervous. Oh, those leaps of blind faith can be nerve-wracking! It's tough to decide to leave a job not because you're unhappy, but because you've hit the proverbial glass ceiling and it's time for new challenges. It becomes hard to walk away from a team you've grown to love, a position you've made your own for almost four years.

But it was, it is, time.

I remember, right out of college emailing my friend Mark about my decision to move to London. He asked how I was feeling, to which I replied: "both excited and scared." Mark replied in a one line, typical of him: "That's exactly how you're supposed to feel, Kel. Duh."

Fair enough.

I'm not too proud to tell you that the night I accepted this new job, after a friend took me out for a glass of champagne and we toasted my success, I had a mini freak-out. ('Tis just in my nature to play the what-if game, gang, I can't help it.) Around 3 in the morning, I found myself lying in the dark, wondering what in the world I'd just done. In an effort to calm my crazy-self down, I took a deep breath. As I rolled over on my side I looked around my bedroom, illuminated in the moonlight. It dawned on me that two years ago I worried I'd made a huge mistake by moving out of an old apartment and leaving a certain neighborhood in order to come to this place - my charming little apartment, this lovely neighborhood. In the weeks leading up to that local move, I greeted more than one witching hour by tossing, turning, and mentally freaking out about my choice. In the end though? That decision was truly one of the best I've ever made.

Funny how that works, isn't it?

I have been sleeping soundly every night since.