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Monday, January 3, 2011

Wavering... or Stay the Course?

I heard fulltimers talk about the emotional roller coaster that they experience leading up to their eventual departure to their new life.  I just didn't realize how these emotions (and I'm not a terribly emotional person) would fly thorough your mind, one right after another.  Sort of like hitting yourself over the head with a 2X4.  Again and again.


Worry.  Excitement.  Second thoughts.  Guilt.  Joy.  Sadness.  Thrills.  Double checking your plans...for the third time.

Then when you've finally convinced yourself for the tenth time everything is going to be okay, you get some new assignments dangled under your nose.  Those assignments would bring a promotion to the top of the heap and a bigger pension.  I could remain for 2 1/2 more years and then I'd hit the mandatory years of total service and have to retire.  Tempting, very tempting. 

Then the roller coaster starts again.  I spent time on the phone with my assignment officer discussing the potential assignments.  I have to let him know tomorrow if I'm going to take any of them.


As with every job, there are many negatives for staying on, too.  It is sometimes easy to forget the grief and aggravation that you go through, the things that drive you crazy and the people you have to put up with.

Do I want to stay or go?  Sometimes you get lucky and something comes along to re-enforce your decision.


I got a call from one guy at my agency headquarters.  They found an award for me that was buried under some papers in one of the bigwig's desks.  An award for saving a woman's life.  It was supposed to be awarded to me...in 2006!  The guy wanted to know if I would be interested in having it presented to me in an award ceremony.

Yes, I think that helped cement my decision to stay the course and move forward to fulltime.  I told him to put the award in the mail...

Thanks for visiting and feel free to leave a comment.

7 comments:

  1. yeah for the roller coaster ride..and good for you for not getting back on!!

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  2. I know of what you speak! I retired in 2007 the first time, took a contract for an exciting opportunity that fit with our travel schedule pretty well and worked both the summer and fall of 2007 and 2008. Retired again in the fall of 2008 and hit the road with our new rig. Then along about the end of August 2009 another one of those great opportunities came along and I couldn't resist. So I spent the winter in the frozen north reminding myself of why I retired in the first place. In April 2010 I called it final and managed to stay retired for 12 days until another great deal came along. Thankfully that was a short term deal and I got out of it very quickly and we moved into our rig and hit the road, so to speak. Changed my phone number and that seemed to have helped with the "wonderful opportunities". They are still out there but I am NOT taking any calls.

    Have fun doing what YOU want and enjoy the next steps as they come.

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  3. I guess I was lucky in that I knew I wanted to retire, travel, and not work. I knew what I wanted to do, and you probably do too, you just have more temptations....

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  4. We love the roller coasters, the real ones not the emotional ones. We stay as far from those as possible and we have never looked back at our choice, it was the right one for us at the time we made it.

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  5. Oooh the pull and lure of the open road and the freedom from home ownership is VERY strong for us. After 32.5 years for Steve, he can't wait till 2013 to chuck it all!

    ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
    Karen and Steve
    (Our Blog) RVing: Small House... BIG Backyard
    http://kareninthewoods-kareninthewoods.blogspot.com/

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  6. I know you can do it! Funny roller coaster shots, especially that girl in the second pic.

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  7. Quitting a job you enjoy and do well in is always a difficult decision. Once you have firmly made that decision, the rest should become easier and less stressful.

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