Monthly Archives: May 2013

In early 2007 I retired from the ClickerSolutions mailing list and found myself at a loss. I had identified strongly with the clicker trainer label and without it, I wasn’t sure who I was. Reinventing-Melissa was born. Many changes happened over the next six years. We moved to the country and got horses. I finished a screenplay and started a novel. And in June 2007 I started a five-month instructional design contract that turned into the happiest years of my career.

Tomorrow, May 31, is my last day at the job I’ve had since June 2007. Three weeks shy of six years — an eternity for a contract position. That’s the longest I’ve ever stayed in one job, and given my druthers, I’d have stayed until I retired.

My husband noted once that he’d never seen me so happy at a job, and although I’ve had good positions in the past, I think that’s true. I learned a lot, both about instructional design and about myself. I became more confident about my skills and stronger in my leadership abilities.

Most importantly, though, I worked with people who became family. As I make it through these last hours, wrapping up loose ends and telling my coworkers goodbye, I have to repeatedly remind myself and them that only the job is ending. Our friendship is not and will not.

What happens after tomorrow is up in the air. It is Reinventing-Melissa all over again. We cannot pay our mortgage and feed our critters on my husband’s salary alone, so I must find another source of income. At the same time, the Universe is pushing me to change what I do, to follow my heart and become the person I am meant to be.

I’m going forward with a positive attitude and a spirit of adventure. I’m standing on the precipice with the entire world stretched out before me. I have only to pick the direction in which I want to go. No matter what: I will be all right. I will thrive, and I will be happy. I am blessed (so very blessed) and loved (so very loved).

My short-term — well, call it mid-term — goal is to finish my novel. After tomorrow I am officially a full-time writer. What else the future holds, I’m not certain, but I’m excited to find out.

To those I’ve worked with for the past six years, please know I love and will miss you. I can honestly say, it has been a privilege.