Yesterday I made an amazing discovery. For the first time since I was 11, and had lost my self confidence as I entered womanhood, I was free of regret. Instead, I had the awareness and the confidence to frame a situation as completely positive.
A little after 8 A.M. yesterday I had packed my attache case, including laptop and smartphone, put $50 of gas in the car, and headed from New Haven, Connecticut to Boston. I was in one of those beauty contests - that is, competing against a lot of other qualified people for a full time job with benefits.
The interview went pretty good, I thought. When I ponied up the $32 for the 1.5 hours in the parking garage and scanned the list of Boston rentals on the Internet, I got the sinking feeling that maybe just maybe relocating to that city, if offered the job, wasn't in my financial self interest.
The good news is that I was saved by an email. A long term lucrative assignment for contract work was being offered me. I called on my trusty smartphone and said yes, yes, yes. I notified the company in which I had interviewed that I was now available for freelance but not full time work. We had discussed the freelance possibility.
Halfway home I settled in at a truck stop which had pizza at $5 a slice, stale candy on sale, and WiFi. I coulda had regrets at spending a whole day not earning a penny and putting out a lot more than a penny. But I didn't. I had test marketed Boston as a place to live. And I ruled it out. I had made more contacts. I might get interesting freelance work.
In addition, at the truck stop I met a truck driver who had been taking the baby steps being a writer. We talked for about an hour. By time I had hit the road again I felt like, instead of wasting a day, I had done a useful day's work in terms of my career path.
Attitude is everything. For me, being able to frame current pain as opportunity came late in life.
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