Happy Friday, everyone!
I shared in The Birth of Healing Homes Network that 2018 ended with a dream come true - launching a business, one that would serve many women in recovery. What a gift! 2019 was the beginning of another dream coming true. I had wrestled for several years with a plan to write a book, never really getting the initial momentum going enough to continue on. I wrote an intro a couple times over a couple years, but that was about it. After consulting with my cousin Sarah, who had been writing for years, I decided to first create a blog. The rationale: begin to build a following, and slowly piece together the bigger picture of my book with chronological blog posts. And so it began, a home page with the following message, so fitting to my life...
The very first post, A Lost Boy, was the most wondrous thing to write. I went back to the experience I always remembered as a child, one that had me in a truck on a starry night, alone and in wonder. I had such a feeling of awe and such a lack of fear. I related with that boy in this intro writing. I knew it was time, and didn't have a lot of care for how it might be received. The website took some work to build, but once up and running, it was like clockwork to build a post. One by one, the posts began telling the story, all the way to the place you're at now. Here I am, a little over two years later, about to catch up to my current life. What a feeling that's coming on. In the very near future, the final composition of my autobiography will begin, once and for all.
I always enjoyed writing and always received wonderful feedback about the things I wrote. More important than any of that, I knew what impact the writing had. Telling my own story has always been a passion, whether spoken or written. This was a way to finally channel everything into one place, sending the world a message never to be forgotten. And that's what's coming. I am extremely excited for the day the book becomes reality and hits your hands. I can't wait!!!
2019 would continue on and consist of a new job search. The company I had worked for had gone through a bunch of changes, and my growth seemed to halt a bit. I had a job to show up to and that's about all. The challenge was gone, and that meant something else was needed. I found a recruiting firm and began looking for consulting work and/or full time work elsewhere. I was introduced to a recruiter in healthcare, and she happened to have a job on her desk that consisted of managing the intake and revenue cycle functions for a nonprofit. It sounded intriguing. I met with the CFO, then with the CEO. It seemed like a great growth opportunity, but it meant a large change - working downtown Minneapolis, managing a decent number of employees, and in the office full time. I had always had flexibility and freedom to work remotely, enjoyed a flexible schedule, and never had to manage people.
I thought long and hard, and as no surprise to many of you, built myself a little spreadsheet, creating a scoring system for the three different choices I had - the new manager job, consulting directly through the firm, or staying put. Consulting won out. I wrote my resignation letter and was ready to hand it in. That evening, the healthcare recruiter called and asked if I had a chance to get all the answers I needed about the manager job. I didn't. She asked if a call would help. Later that night, I was on a call with the CFO and recruiter. I explained I didn't want to take the full time job.
I was then asked to consult directly for the nonprofit, to take a look at systems and processes. Within a couple months, the CFO had built quite the case for me to come on full time, though I still couldn't quite make the leap. That said, seeing the work that the company did was enough to pull strongly at my heartstrings. They touched so many lives. As the summer began, I finally agreed to take a full time position. I would start in August of 2019. I could never imagine what would come from that job. The role I took was not one I had a ton of experience in, but I knew I could learn, and learn quickly. That's what I would have to do.
As my time with my then current employer came to an end, I struggled knowing the end of where it all started was just around the corner. Simultaneously, the relationship I had been in had been paused and felt as if it was near its end, too. It would take a lot of friends, family, prayer and introspection to stay positive during those challenging, changing times.
Thank God for all the above. Time and time again, they come through. Stay tuned as I round out 2019 next time and tap into 2020, a year most of us can agree was as challenging as any.
Peace,
J