Go to Work!

I think I was in the 9th grade when my mother decided that she was gonna QUIT her job! Wait what!? Ma you got the game twisted shorty! You stay home with your babies/toddlers, NOT your teenage daughter and son! She was about to mess up my whole flow! She was gonna be around way more than I would like and that just wasn't what I planned! Go to work!

But little did I know, she was teaching me something, something I had no idea I was being taught until YEARS later. She was teaching me that no money in the world can ever replace your happiness. No money in the world can replace your peace. No money in the world can make you feel fulfilled, when you're doing something that you're not passionate about. No money in the world can replace the time that you lose when you're doing something that you don't love. No money in the world can replace your quality time with the people you love and care about. No money in the world will ever be able to make you feel something that you just don't feel!

That finally hit me when I was about 23 years old! I had been laid off of my full-time job at Hopkins because the research project wasn't going as projected. We weren't bringing in the numbers that were need in order to keep me employed as a full time employee. So in October 2013, I found out my last day would be December 31, 2013. What am I gonna do for money!? How will I pay my bills!? I need some source of income! So then I remembered, I'm eligible for unemployment because I was being laid off. Ok great! That will cover my bills and a few wants here and there! I also had a boyfriend who was willing to help with things I may have needed. Ok so six months go by, unemployment ends. So I get another job at Hopkins, but this one is only casual. That meant I couldn't work over a certain amount of hours per year and that I didn't have a set schedule. I LOVED the freedom of coming and going to and from work whenever I pleased. The money wasn't all that great at all but I made it work! I was able to study when I needed to, travel when I wanted to, stay at home when I wanted to, and just spend time with the people I cared about. Then I started to feel like I should be making more money. So I applied for another full time position at Hopkins. I got it. I was hired for a full time position but only averaged about 20 hours a week, while still earning the full paycheck. That was cool with me! I was able to do other things that I wanted to do with the rest of my time. Things like school work, reading, surprise visits to my then boyfriend, completing my externship, seeing my family and friends, getting things done around the house, and working my other job (Uber).  Then the time for the budget came around 🤦🏽‍♀️. The "parent site" wasn't pleased with our numbers, even though we had the most women recruited out of all of the other sites combined! They decided to reduce our budget and with that reduction, goes my job! 🤷🏽‍♀️ oh well it's nothin new to me, right. Why should I be bothered by it!? Well I was bothered because I was originally told that my position was going down to true part-time (the pay) not that it wouldn't be existing anymore! So that pissed me off. But other than that I was good. So May 31, 2016 was my last day. Unemployment kicked in. I graduated and got plenty of graduation money. I was good. I was truly ENJOYING my life! Chilling! Reading! Available to help the people in my life, when they needed it. Free from the stresses of work. Free from the mundane getting up, driving to work, usually having a not so intriguing day, driving home, just to do it all over again the next day. That summer I went through a break up. That time away from work gave me the opportunity to process that and learn what I needed to learn without having to interrupt my process! All in all, I was great! I was FREE! Then I said ok I guess I should get another job! Against my better judgement, I accepted a part-time position at the VA. I absolutely hated it. The people were nice and all but the actual job, i hated it. I cared nothin about doing research for lung cancer. So I decided to look for another job. I accepted an offer for a full-time position at the University of Maryland Baltimore. It required a LGPC, which I had just recently obtained. So here I am, finally in a position, which utilizes my degree, doing something that I love!!!! WRONG! Wrong as wrong can be. Yeah the actual work is cool, but I still can't shake this feeling that I'm supposed to be writing and doing other things with my time! Things where I actually feel fulfilled and like I'm really helping people and that they're interested in what I have to offer!

I say all of that to say, GO TO WORK! Whatever that work is for YOU, do it! Whatever God has placed inside of your heart, do that! Cuz for me I've accepted that working a 9-5 just isn't what God has placed in my heart! Of course I'll be appreciative of it and do my best at it until I'm able to do exactly what He's placed in my heart, but I will not stop working to reach that place! So thank you Ma for quitting your job! Thank you for choosing your peace and happiness. Thank you for starting the business that you had in your heart. Thank you for showing me that it can be done and that I too, should quit my job! Quit my job and do the work that God has for me!

❤️MrR❤️
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