My Next Phase Will Be...

I sometimes operate under the silly assumption that there are periods or maybe 'phases' that I progress through in life. One at a time. Simple. Easy.

For instance, when thinking about last year where I worked not as a teacher and not yet in my current profession, I originally thought to myself, "this will be my transition phase- in grad school and working a easy part-time job." What I often forget is that things don't turn out as simple, clear cut, or as one dimensional as I initially think that they are.

I think that is what happened this fall:

I originally must have thought something like the following, "once I graduate, it will be an optimal time to just begin looking and applying for new jobs- it will be my developing my new career phase."

Great.

But I must have forgotten about that previous thought and also thought, "now that I am graduating, I will have plenty of time in the evenings without any homework- I will have a bit of a break and lots of time to do things that I have always wanted."

Sounds good!

But that one also must have slipped my mind... because I also recall thinking, "Husband and I finally have some time and space to start a family- this fall, winter, and spring can be my pregnancy phase- lots of time to read, finish up house projects, and prepare for baby."

Yep!

But somehow that really important 'phase' also got lost in the shuffle, because somehow this fall also became the 'having two jobs/completing the Oral History Project phase' and the 'implementing my thesis research for real in the neighborhood phase'. Hmmm...

I don't even have a sentence that can sum all that up into one phase with which to label my fall and winter. It became the 'new baby, new career, oral history project, new neighborhood initiative, and where did all my time go? phase'

So last night, finally, after walking between my two institutions, daily, in every kind of weather, at every time of day, for every kind of meeting, with my increasingly large belly, with an enormous amount of work over the last three months, I finally put one of the phases to bed: we launched the Oral History Project. None of the complements, accolades, or thoughtful comments mattered as much to me as moving on from a 'phase' that may have gotten a little too involved...

This morning I woke up ready to begin another new phase that really won't take any work and that is what I will call and lovingly think of as my 'one-job phase'.

That is... until May when another 'phase' comes along.