Relationships

Forming and maintaining positive relationships is something that is critical to living a healthy life.  One needs people that they can trust and lean on in times of need.  A spouse needs his/her spouse, a child needs his/her parent,  a child needs his/her teacher, a teacher needs the support of a parent and vice versa.  Relationships are everywhere and to be blunt, they are unavoidable and so we all need to make the best of them, right? 

Although I am not currently in a career, I have always found it so  important to have strong and positive relationships with my co-workers.  When you are at work you are spending the vast majority of your life with people who it is in your best interest to get along with.  I do not mean that to sound funny but it is true.  When I was an administrator in a childcare center, it was a very stressful job and I tell ya, if I did not have strong relationship with my co-directors from the other centers I seriously would have lost my marbles most days! Your work relationships can truly make or break your job and your love for your profession.  I loved my job because I was passionate about it but boy did my colleagues really make a huge difference in me wanting to continue to do my best every single day.  We pushed each other to do our best and we were supportive of each other when things just did not go as we planned.  There were plenty of times when I called my colleagues on the phone and could just cry and let it all out.  They did not judge me; they would either listen or cry with me!  Co-workers truly have a special that I believe no other people have (especially when you have the same values and beliefs).

On a more personal level, my husband fits in with the theme of this post very well because when I made the very difficult decision to leave my passion and my career just one year ago he absolutely was my number one cheerleader! With out his support I would have never had the courage to resign from my job and leave behind an income that was significant to our family lifestyle.  However I was not happy anymore at my job and money has no power over our happiness.  Support, encouragement, and having someone who is on my team when it comes to my happiness and my families happiness is my number one priority in life.  It has not been easy since I left my job as we have had to really make financial sacrifices and deal with some realistic challenges.  But again our support and love for each other has kept us grounded.

Which brings me to my previous job, my relationship with my job and my husband.  My job was very stressful, I worked 50-60 hours a week, I was under a lot of pressure working for the largest, corporate run childcare company in the country.  My work stress was causing stress in my personal life, at home, with my friends, and with my co-workers (we were all very stressed out).  I will not go into details about private company related issues but as far as how relationships can affect my life as a professional persons work was a big deal.  I was no longer doing a good job at my passion because the stress was getting the best of me.  I was no longer available for my teachers, my families at the center, or the children like they deserved.  I knew that it was time for me to take a break.  I needed to find a way to re-group myself so that I could still be passionate about the field and not completely ruin all of my professional relationships.  That brought me here and now I am finishing my masters degree (long overdue) and building new relationships with people from all over the world, learning how to be a better professional and leader in the field, and keeping my passion alive.