Fingers Crossed and an Open Mind (not so much about fitness)

So, I haven’t really done much fitness since starting my fitness blog, well, in all honesty I haven’t done any fitness.  I have given lots of thought to the fitness I would consider doing, which should count.  I’m all about the baby steps.  Well, I take the “no fitness at all” comment back, Stacey and I spent two nights at my cabin in Mentone, Alabama and we did take an agonizing 30 minute walk along County Road 642.  It was so hot and humid that my sunglasses fogged up and lines of sweat ran from under my sunglasses and down my face.  Not so much fun.  I am soooooo ready for Fall (*sigh*). 

My friend Deborah Lucy (formerly Deborah Franz) and I both resigned from our law jobs earlier this year.  I went to Ireland for three months and Deborah just completed a six month, 2,190 thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail.  On a typical day she was hiking like 20 miles.  I don’t really feel bad bitching about a 30 minute walk on a country road when Deborah just completed a 2000+ mile hike.  Deborah and I are totally different people.  We are motivated by different things and have different goals in life.  She is in love with the fitness and I have more of a “I hate your stinking guts, I hope you die” relationship with the fitness.  I guess I am hoping to change my attitude/perspective a little so that I fall somewhere in the middle.  I don’t kid myself into believing that I will ever be in love with the fitness.  Fitness and I have just never made a lasting love connection.  I guess I would like to have more of a “friends with benefits” relationship with the fitness.  That’s what I am aiming for anyway.  Deborah did a wonderful blog during her hike of the AT if you want to check it out (www.postholer.com/pickle).  I think she is hoping to turn her blog posts into a book at some point. 

As of yesterday, I have officially begun the job search process.  I am already getting the feeling of being led out into the middle of the woods blindfolded, spun around 30 times and then asked to find my way back.  Before law school, looking for a job meant pulling out the classified ads and circling prospective places of employment.  Once I had a few options, I would simply go by and fill out an application.  It was easy as pie (Why is pie easy anyway?  Or do I have that cliché wrong?  I've been told I am cliché challenged).  I didn’t get paid all that much in those days, but then again, I really didn’t need that much.  I got along just fine.  I have had a variety of exciting jobs throughout the years and have always had great work ethic and done my very best at whatever I did, whether it was flipping burgers at McDonalds and earning myself the Employee of the Month and the McHustle Award in 1988 (I’m not making that up), running the positive peer culture program at the adolescent group home, becoming an expert at folding sheets in the housekeeping department at the Richmond Hill Inn (that skill has served me well over the years) or teaching goofy 4 and 5 year old preschool kids at A Child’s Place.  I never doubted that I would find something I liked and I never doubted that I would charm the interviewer or totally rock at the job (the couple of months I served as a telemarketer for JC Penny insurance notwithstanding).  Then I went off to law school and the law firms came to campus to interview us.  All we had to do was drop our resume in a box in the career services office and wait/hope for calls.  I have worked in three large law firms over the past 8 years (Jones Day, DLA Piper and Schiff Hardin).  I never once had to pull out the classified ads to land those jobs.  Jones Day came on campus, interviewed me, then offered me a job, and I joined my mentor and partner at both DLA Piper and Schiff Hardin (It was really her expertise and qualifications that got me those jobs, I know that.  She was the outfit and I was the accessory.  Now, accessories are key to styling any good outfit, I know that too, but I know I was the accessory).  Sure, I had to put on a suit and go through a full day of interviews at each firm to convince a dozen or so attorneys that I was worthy of the job (you can’t just be any accessory, you actually have to compliment the outfit and "make it work"), but still.  Now that I have decided to veer away from the big law firm career path, I have no earthly clue how to really go about the job search process.  The classifieds section in the legal newspaper is not even half a page usually, and I assure you, the few postings that are included are not real estate jobs.  Plus, I am still struggling with what I want to do and what I will be good at.  So it’s hard to look for something when you don’t know what you are looking for.  It’s like losing your glasses and then some wiseass asking you where was the last place you had them?  Wel-l-l-l-l-l, if I knew that my glasses wouldn’t be lost now would they?  It’s all a bit scary and every third or fourth night of the week I have a completely sleepless night where I just can’t turn my brain off.  Last night was one such night. 

So, what I have I done so far to look for a job - you ask?  Yesterday I met with a former Jones Day colleague (and friend) who now works as a recruiter with one of the top legal contracting agencies in Atlanta and passed along my completed registration package for contract work.  She seemed confident that she could find me some actual substantive real estate placements, but in the meantime I said I would do some document review placements just to have some cash flow coming in.  I am hoping to get my first gig in September.  I also called the Georgia State College of Law career center and asked about their alumni services.  The head of the career center said “of course she remembered me” and assured me that they could help me figure out what else is out there for me – besides big law.  She said, and I quote, they would help me “get back in the game.”  Even though I am not 100% certain I want to be “back in the game,” I will meet with them next week to see what’s what.  I have started the process.  Not sure if I am going about it the right way, but it’s my way.  Every day I go between having very optimistic thoughts and having completely destructive thoughts.  I have to constantly remind myself that things always seem to work out one way or another.  The end result is not always what you expected, but 9 times out of 10 it works out for the best.  So, for now, it’s fingers crossed and an open mind.  Send your positive thoughts my way!!!!



Told you I wasn't making it up!  I got mad skills.