The first day of the rest of your life...

I have been toying with idea of starting a new blog for a very long time. I'm no stranger to blogging, having started my first in 2002 before it was even cool. Of course not even knowing it would someday be something commonplace to have, I filled it with nonsensical entries about my hunt for the perfect boy or musing about my day to day life in high school. That blog served me well for many years. But now, I felt the need to start fresh, have a common theme to my blog. After musing about several ideas I had, I felt paralyzed by the fact that I could face rejection. What if no one cared what I had to say?

I've since come to the realization that I should start the blog with the ultimate goal of recording a time in my life which felt exciting, something to look back on many years from now. I often read back in the 2500 entries made in my earlier blog and cringe at my thoughts but can appreciate how I have matured in these past 8 years. It's comforting to see that you are not the same girl you were at 16, who thought dying before age 30 was a completely acceptable thing to brag about wanting. ::cringe::

Now I suppose it is only fitting to fill you in on the details of my topic. I've always been one of those fortunate people who never really had to work hard to get good things to happen. In high school I recieved excellent marks in my classes and always managed to be gainfuully employed at jobs that paid pretty well, considering my age. I got into a good university, mimed my way through classes with more good grades. Staying up all night to write that paper I was given 9 weeks to complete. I took as many classes as I could fit in to my schedule and worked 3 jobs my last two years at University. I even managed to have several internships with gave me experience in Marketing, which was my major. I had done a pretty good job networking my way through university, always having a chat with people who mattered and saving business cards for use after garduation. Then...I fell in love. Not only did I fall in love, but it was with a man who lived thousands of miles away in New Zealand. Before travelling to Australia foor a summer when I was 21, I had never heard of this small country that was a close cousin to Australia (although most would argue against that fact!)

Since America makes it so hard for foreigners to get a green card, I set off soon after graduation for a life in New Zealand. It wasn't quite what I had always planned for my post-grad life. I was suddenly in place where I had no connections, no networks, hell, I didn't even know how to go about finding a job in a new country. Unfortunately, it wasn't even unique to be American here, many people I met were in a similar boat to mine. How to stand out in a place like this?

Long story short...I found a job, was insanely bored and not learning any new skills but the pay was good. I kept at it for about 8 months until a new job was found for me. The pay wasn't quite as good but I was excited too start this new chapter in my life. Lesson #1 about life learned: Read the job description and disect every word. See, when I read it, it said to me: importance, marketing, writing, being someone in a company. YAY! What it was actually: dealing with angry people, being a receptionist, answering the phone, doing work for my boss that she didn't seem to want to do. It wasn't quite the important role I had set out to get but I made the best of it. I let me feelings be known that I wanted to be in Marketing, as that is what I had studied at University. I waited and waited, nothing seemed to be happening. Then, it suddenly came to me, I don't even like Marketing. I don't want to do Marketing at all. I want to do something that focuses on Travel. It seems I will need to take a course first to get any job that would interest me, but I feel better knowing I have more of a path lined up for me. I'm ready to prove I can do anything!

Which brings me back to the point of my blog... I want to catalogue my rise back to a place where I feel content and excited about life everyday. I have some pretty lofty goals at this point, like quit my job by 14 May! Really, really ambitious I know, but where would we be without these kinds of goals? And what if I actually met the goal?

I must also mention that another motivator in this whole process was a bad perfoormance review I got at work. I suppose it wasn't horrible, but in the standards I would like to put forward for myself it was devastating. I am not good at meeting deadlines nor outgoing enough (which I honestly find quite hard to believe) am not forthright. It did somewhat open my eyes to the Heather I've been portraying to the world, but also made me realise how much I slip under the radar at work. It made me feel downriight unappreciated!

So...
Since I'm done waiting around for the world to happen in front of me, I thought my first course of action would be to market myself to everyone. I thought I would make a list of the top ten reasons why I am an asset to your company and spam it out to as many people as I could. Then, any interested parties could request to see my resume and maybe I could find something to tide me over until I get some travel courses under my belt. I guess I should get to work on that...will update on my progress very soon!

Thanks for joining me on this ride!