Coming Back from a Setback

I'm back.  You might be wondering why I haven't written anything here in months.  Let me explain why.

I decided to start this blog a little over a year ago with the intent of sharing my expertise in higher education and career development with people beyond my usual base of students.  I spent weeks choosing the title, theme, and weekly topics that would fill this blog.  I was all set to go. 

Then I reached my own pivot in my professional development.

After Thanksgiving of last year, my then-employer told me that they were discontinuing my position after only a few months on the job.  I was assured that this was not due to a lack of skills or knowledge on my part.  They simply were restructuring and realized that they no longer needed the services they had hired me to implement.

Yes, it would've been ideal if they had done more strategic thinking prior to their recruitment and hiring of me, but we do not live in an ideal world.  To console myself, I constantly told people, "It is what it is."

Despite the shock of my new unemployed status, I quickly found ways to be productive.  Within a week of being of being laid off, I found a part-time temporary job at a nonprofit in international education.  This organization placed and advised scholarship grantees from Latin America and the Caribbean to complete their graduate studies in the United States.  I reviewed university applications before submitting them on behalf of the grantee.

Within two weeks of being laid off, I started interning at a nonprofit career center.  This was meaningful to me because I previously had been unemployed when a grant-funded job for a school district had ended.  This very career center was where I attended workshops and sought career counseling when I was looking for work.  I always had plans to pay forward the help the organization's staff had given me by volunteering for them.  In fact, a week prior to my layoff, I spoke to my mentor there about volunteering with them.  I told her that I wished I could spend more time serving with them.

Well, I certainly got my wish in ways I hadn't expected.  When I got laid off, it was perfect timing for me to intern and later work for them as a career services specialist.

After a couple months, my temporary job at the international education nonprofit ended.  I spent more time working as a career services specialist.  It was only a part-time job, but it gave me a regular schedule and sense of community that people often miss when they are suddenly unemployed.

I was so busy working at the career center and working on my own job search that contributing to this blog fell to the bottom of my to-do list.

I was okay with that.

Sometimes we have to take care of our immediate and short-term needs before focusing on our long-term needs.

A few months ago, I got a message from a manager at the international education nonprofit.  She asked me if I was interested in her nonprofit's full-time position to place students in graduate programs, and the job came with benefits.  Benefits?  I hadn't had those in so long!  At an organization that I liked?  Even better!

I started that job a few months ago.  Now that I feel more acclimated to the new position, I'm able to come back to this blog and contribute to the extent that I want.

It has been a long time, but hopefully now you understand why it took so long.

Have you ever had to set something aside when you encountered a setback?  Were you ever able to come back to it?  Why or why not?