Today I Choose

Today was my yearly review at my place of employment. It will be two years that I have worked here in November and this is my first review. Obviously they haven't had any problems with me since they waited two years for a review. I really love my job,but there are times that I get so bored. The spring and fall are the slowest times for us since the weather is so nice and people using drugs/alcohol don't usually think about making a change until it's really cold outside or really hot. Eight months after I started this job I got a promotion and a very nice raise. Since last July I have not gotten a raise and it seems that since since my promotion was so nice financially it appears I have to wait another year before I get a raise. I don't understand this, but I guess I should just be thankful that I have a job that I love, right?

I really have close to the perfect job. I control my schedule in terms of setting up appointments with clients, etc. If I have paperwork that I need to work on I simply block off my schedule. My boss is one of the most laid back people I know. His motto is (although this motto is just assumed) : as long as you get your work done I don't care how it gets done. He doesn't micromanage and there are some days when I don't see him at all. I only know he's here because his car is in the same parking spot that he has parked in for the past ten years. He has told us that if we need a day of for whatever (personal, mental health day) it's no problem.

Our company is small. There are just 12 of us that work in this office. Because our company is so small they pay all our medical premiums. In today's world when health insurance is so damn expensive that is a blessing. That means I have my health insurance provided without any money coming out of my paycheck. It is an HMO policy, but I have never had a problem with HMO's. Actually I think it cost less when you have an HMO. One co-pay and that's it. No deductibles to meet.

I have had some pretty horrible jobs in my life. When I was in my teens I worked the typical retail and realized that I hated retail. The fact that I realized that I hated retail made me stay in college and complete my education. Even after college I have had some horrible jobs. After I got my masters I worked in three different nursing homes. The first one I worked in was ok and I made some good friends there. It was just so depressing. After 7 months at that nursing home the parent company transferred me to another nursing home. That was the worst job that I have ever had. I hated every single minute I worked there. My boss at this one nursing home was a total bitch. When I left I made sure she knew what I thought of her. I then went to work for another nursing home and found this was equally as bad. Luckily they fired me (for something really stupid) and I was able to take six months off. I was looking for work, but was also really enjoying my time off while I collected unemployment. That six months I had off really healed my soul. One week before my unemployment ran out I found employment in a small town south of Kansas City. Little did I know that I was meant to work at this place. The pay sucked, but because of some connections I made at this place I met Laura. One important thing I learned while at this job that was literally costing me money to work there: everything happens for a reason. If I hadn't worked at this place that although I loved the work I was doing and I was barely making ends meet, I would have never met Laura. And if I hadn't met Laura I don't know where my life would be.

Life is what you make it. I strongly feel that if you go through life with a bad attitude always seeing the negative in life, then that is what you will get in life. It is so easy to go to the negative in life and many days I quickly go that route. But today is a different day. I choose to see the positive.