Lunchtime Ramblings on a Wednesday

Ever have one of those moments when you're doing something totally random and your mind goes back to something in the past and you end up having one of those "ah ha" moments?

Yeah?
No?

Well I did. And it went a little something like this...

As I'm sitting in my kitchen (my work spot for the day because sometimes you need a change of scenery) eating my salad for lunch (OK, let's be realistic, it was a bowl of lettuce and shredded cheese with ranch dressing) my mind drifted back to the 2011 Disney Social Media Moms.

At the conference we had the pleasure of hearing from Rene Syler and what she said changed the way I thought about my job at the time and made me really think about what I wanted to do with my professional life.

So as I'm noshing on my "salad" I remembered Rene telling us about how after suffering a lot of personal and professional challenges, she was eating $2 Lean Cuisine lunches in her "office closet" and realized she was happy. In fact, at the time, she had never been happier.

And I thought to myself - I think I'm finally at that point. I'm eating a bowl of lettuce with ranch dressing, wearing no makeup, hair is a hot mess, and I'm surrounded by to-do lists and story ideas for my job (a job that I L.O.V.E.) and holy crap....I. AM. HAPPY.

I think back to where I was when I attended that conference - working for a Bully, hating my job, feeling lost and miserable, feeling like nothing I did at work was good enough - and then I think about where I am right now.

I am doing what I love to do - writing - every single day. I work for someone who respects me and the other people who work for her. And I finally feel good great about the words I type every day.

And that my friends is a wonderful thing. As a writer I hated feeling like my words weren't good enough.

This lunchtime epiphany might not seem Earth-shattering to some, but it was kind of epic for me. It took me a long time to get over what happened to me. Being a victim is not a role I was meant to play and it took a toll on me. I doubted my talent, my abilities, my writing. I doubted myself.

But now, nearly three years later it's safe to say that the doubt is finally, really, totally gone. And I'm a much happier person than I was back then.

So there you have it.

This lunchtime ah-ha moment brought to you by a bowl of salad.

Funny how things work out, isn't it?