{a home in the making} on taking risks

I was sort of a tease on Wednesday. See, the big exciting news is that I ACCEPTED A NEW JOB! And, it's only 7.5 miles from my house, rather than 55 miles! I didn't want to let the cat out of the bag until I had *officially* accepted the job, which I did yesterday.

The story of this job actually relates to my previous post a couple weeks ago about deciding not to sell our house right now. (You can read that post here).  At the end of that post, I admitted that a single goal - getting out of our house - had kept me from seeing the bigger picture - the other options I had. I want to share this story with you because it's an awesome example of that cliche: when one door closes, another opens. It's also the story of learning to see the bigger picture and being willing to take a risk.

FAVORITE Curly Girl Design quote. It's always hanging in my office.

In mid-April, I learned about this job opening in Portland. In fact, my current boss told me about it, and STRONGLY encouraged me to apply. Not because she doesn't like me :), but because she knew I was qualified, it would be an amazing step in my career, and it was close to home. At this point, we were in the middle of getting our house on the market, and I was completely exhausted. I drug my feet for a few days but in the end decided why not? I had an up-to-date resume, so I emailed it in.  No one was more surprised than I when I got an interview. That interview, like I mentioned briefly here, was the day after we were *supposed* to list our house. I left the interview truly not being able to tell how it went. It was just a couple days after this that we decided not to sell our house. And, I made my peace with my two-hour a day commute.

 

But, I did get a second interview, and friends, it went SO WELL. I met the entire staff and they are all great and completely passionate about what they do. This left me with some serious thinking to do. See, the thing is, that you don't commute for up to two hours a day, for years (!), for a job, unless it's an INCREDIBLE job! I really love my current job. I LOVE the people, I love the projects that I'm trusted with and I love the message that I'm marketing. It's truly a blessing for me to have worked with this company for as long as I have. On top of all that, there is a certain amount of security in my job, because of how long I've been there, and because of the company itself.

Hmmm. What to do??

I had to face the facts that if I take a new job, there's a chance I could regret leaving my happy home of a current job. Was I willing to take that RISK? I got home from my second interview and was excited because it went so well, and completely nervous because that meant that they might offer me the job. Trying to distract myself, I started going through my google reader, when I ran across this quote: 

“You can stay the same, not lose anything, but never know what there was to be gained. Or you can risk, guaranteeing some loss, and yet gain more than you knew was possible.” 

The quote is from Incourage, but I don't remember the site that took me to the article. (If I read this on your site, please let me know and I'll reference you! I'm sorry, I went through my reader again, and couldn't find it.) It hit me like a ton of bricks. I even called Chris at work to read it to him. The question went from what if I regret leaving my current job, to what if I regret not taking a chance?? Do I want to live my life afraid to take chances and never really experience all that life has to offer? Um, no. I want to be able to look back at my life and KNOW that I've experienced and grown and lived a full life. 

I will be the first to admit, I am not a big fan of change or taking risks. I like my world to be safe and cozy and secure. But I'll also, maybe a little more begrudgingly, admit that I've grown the most and had the best experience during periods of change and/or risk. Once I made that leap, in my own head, I knew I was ready for whatever my next step was - whether that was the job I had interviewed for, or not. 

Happy with a decision made! 

I'm happy that my next step is this new job though. I'm excited-nervous for what it holds. I also LOVE that as soon as I'd made peace with NOT selling our house, and I took my focus off my very narrow-minded goal, a new, dare I say even better (?), door opened. 

Needless to say, I've been incredibly preoccupied for the past month. More than anything, I'm excited the process is over and I can concentrate on, well anything really, again :). New fun home-update projects are coming your way Monday! Let's just say ORANGE spray paint is involved :). And friends, THANK YOU (!) for hanging in there with me when I've my attention was drawn away from our adorable little abode, and sharing projects with you all. 

Your turn! Please share ... what's a risk you've taken lately? Big or small? OR what's a risk you're contemplating taking??