Riding My ATV At Cloud 9
You may ask why someone would write an editorial blog and if anyone would read it when written since there are so many editorials out there. I cannot tell you why others do this but I can tell you why I do this.
The reason I blog is that I need a way to release my thoughts, concerns, etc., for personal, professional, and other reasons. How did I get here?
In 2015, my life went through a number of twists and turns that were unexpected but who can really anticipate twists and turns since they just happen. Some of these twists included:
- My mother experienced a serious stroke during the Superbowl that resulted in her residing in a nursing home for the remainder of her life.
- Weekly, bi-weekly, and monthly trips between North Dakota and Missouri the norm through all of 2015.
- The company I worked for was sold to an investment company in March and with that sale, my position was significantly impacted even though I was asked to stay on for twelve (12) months.
- Much travel was required for work between our Missouri and Illinois offices.
- All other senior staff at the company I worked at were terminated by the end of 2017 except for myself.
- I was the source of information for corporate history, information, and blame.
2016 ended up being a year of transition for me since the downhill trend continued from 2015.
- The new management team and I disagreed on reporting accuracy.
- Accurate reporting without massaging, tweaking, etc. was a must.
- Decisions were made by the new management team with limited input from knowledgeable employees.
- Changes impacting key competencies were made without being vetted.
- I decided to move on and work as a consultant for other companies.
- Increased flexibility to travel home to see my parents.
2017 rolled around and I decided to work as a full-time employee since I was not able to invest the time to develop a customer base for consulting so I had breaks between jobs.
- I was hired by a local sales and service company to transition them from shrink mode to grow mode.
- The company decided they did not want to go through the pain of transitioning so we parted ways.
- After forty (40) years of working without a significant break, I decided to take some time to figure out what I wanted to do.
- This is when I initially started to blog and research other options including franchises, full-time employment, sales, etc.
- Being offered an opportunity to help develop sales and support for a small company that has a national presence, I decided to accept the offer.
Unluckily, in May 2017, my mother’s health continued to decline and she passed away after a long fight. I was devastated by her death even though I had years to prepare for it.
During this time, I also realized that I had not emotionally dealt with my professional life either and had to get right both personally and professionally.
I started writing a journal but over time that was not enough to deal with the issues listed above so I decided to write an editorial blog to:
- Get right personally since I do not have my mom to talk to.
- Share professionally since I do not have my long-established circle of employees, peers, etc.
- Deal with issues, challenges, etc. regarding being fifty plus going on fifteen.
- Provide a boost to those that are fifty plus since it is not a death sentence.
- Vent as required.
- What do you do to help maintain personal and professional stability?
I want to thank each of you for visiting this blog and wish you health, safety, and success. It is great being fifty plus going on fifteen.
Jay Patterson