On September 11, 2001, my relationship with corporate America changed forever. It should have happened sooner, but that was the tower I needed in order to see the disarray I had been clouded by. Like many Americans and others alike, I was taught to get an education, go to work, get married, you know the routine. Since I had already had an annulled marriage and had only completed three years of college, I believed I still had a chance to nail it on the playing field of corporate America.
I landed a job working for a large property management company. I was elated to have the job and planned on being there until I retired. I started out as a customer specialist and within five years I had my third promotion and was working as a project coordinator handling large accounts and supporting the project management team. I loved my job and I loved the people I worked with. My ambition was supported and I wanted to go further so I choose a mentor within the company. The mentor I choose was a woman who was the Vice-President of our region. She was the only woman in her position. I admired her and I wanted to know how she got there. She was not the mentor I expected. She made it a habit of crushing my self-esteem. She ridiculed me, pointed out all my flaws, and told me in order to be successful I needed to go back to college and get a degree. Did she not know that I had received three promotions, received several awards, and several Starbucks gift cards and that was not considered a success? During our meetings, she boasted about her sons, husband, and the vacations they would take. She would later make the decision to lay me off without even a notice.
I took her advice and went back to college. I worked full-time and went to school at night or whenever I could. It took me almost six years to complete one year of college, but I did it. I received my bachelor's degree in Organizational Leadership from Chapman University. I decided to not go back to the project management arena and to work in human resources instead. My first job was as a human resources assistant and my last job was as a human resources manager. Throughout my career in human resources, I learned that when that asset manager was sending me emails telling me he liked my ass, that was sexual harassment. When one of my managers would make it a point to tell me how to hold a fork during a business lunch, that was bullying. I learned to recognize toxic behavior and address it properly. But after several years of dealing with sexual harassment not only from men but women as well, and solving the problems of immature employees, I longed for something more challenging, engaging, and fulfilling.
After being labeled and obsessed over in a corporate environment, you learn how to recognize the energy that people can bring in any environment. Eventually, I determined that a decision has to be made. Is it worth your mental health? Is your physical health worth it? Do I see myself working twenty years dealing with all these projections that hit like bullets? I said no, and I became the writer, which I have always been and loved. I've had a journal since I was in the 5th grade. I did not want to look back on my life and have the majority of it look like work and no play. Life is a vacation and work should be play. I tapped into my creative side and I haven't looked back.
The journey of a creative person is not easy. Being a small business owner is not easy at all; but it is worth the peace and the gratification of a finished project that you put your heart into. So when I say I appreciate all of your support I do. I appreciate every single share, subscribe, repost, every donation big or small, it all keeps me going. I have people who listen to my podcast a hundred times but never "like" it or give it a review. Then there are those who watch my videos a thousand times but never share them. What's important to me is that you see them and that you are listening so, I appreciate you too.
Peace Within
Lavidus
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