If I were to sum up my life right now, it would be a mere seven words: work, eat, sleep, sometimes paddle, airplanes, repeat.
My new employment out of the house is like many new jobs in that it is all consuming. Never before, in my life, have I started at a company and been buried the first day. While busy beyond anything I could have comprehended, I am satisfied in a way that I haven't been in a long time. This job has taken my skill set to places I haven't visited in years and forced me to learn entirely new manufacturing concepts.
I am profoundly grateful.
As I've entered the Kiwi workforce, I've noticed a few things. First of all, my hybrid Canadian/American accent has given me an unexpected competitive advantage. When we were living in the US, Dallas used to claim that his New Zealand twang gave him a leg up and at the time, I told him he was crazy. I believed that it was his superior people skills and level-headed approach to problem solving that enabled his rapid climb up the corporate ladder. While that assumption was certainly partly true, I now have to admit that being different has its advantages. People absolutely listen when I speak but this too, is a double edged sword. There is undeniable pressure because I am terrified of sounding like an ill informed asshole. My preparation for meetings is exhaustive and the learning curve looks like Mt. Everest. Oh well, with a bit of luck and heaps of study, I should be relatively well versed in the dairy industry in no time.
I've also noticed that New Zealanders are, well, nice. They are careful to be diplomatic and in most circumstances, they don't appear to be an aggressive bunch, which is antithetical to what I have seen in the procurement business for the last twenty years. Of course, I say this with limited exposure but I can share that my, um, less accepting approach to unfavourable answers is often met with surprise by my colleagues. I'm careful to be very, polite but I will ask "Why?" or "Why not?" enough times and enough ways to make someone genuinely uncomfortable until I receive an appropriate response. A couple of my work mates who either hear me on the phone or who have been in vendor meetings with me think that this is genius but it isn't. It's just a rejection of complacency. My husband has warned me to be careful about asserting too many North American sensibilities into my current workplace. He tells me to tread softly but confidently; be firm yet mindful of our cultural differences. He is right.
Speaking of cultural differences, the most glaring one for me has been the genuine respect of every individual's right to achieve a balance between work and private life. It is not lip service here. Late nights and weekends are discouraged. My boss has cruised by my desk and instructed me to go home at a decent time on more than one occassion. My colleagues have encouraged me to eat lunch away from my desk and take some time to collect myself.
"The work will be right where you left it when you get back," they say. You know what? They're right.
Dallas and I both struggle with that balance though. Ingrained is our American lifestyle where we were always available by smart phone, where our two weeks vacation times were peppered with status calls into the office and a few hours each day checking email. Our histories are littered with instances where our jobs took top spot in our lives at the expense of everything and everyone else.
I am chipping away at that misguided ethic though, because I've never yet been to a funeral where people reminisced about what a great worker someone was. Having the last several years at home with my family has taught me that it's more important for me to be present as a wife, a mother and a good friend than as a wage earner exclusively. Until recently though, I didn't comprehend that the only person forcing me to make a choice between career and family was ME. I now understand that I can have both.
The only real casualty of my new job is paddling. Unfortunately, my passion has had to take a temporary backseat. I'm lucky if I get to train once a week these days but even with the abbreviated schedule, I am still at my very best both emotionally and mentally, when in the waka. As we move into our fall and winter season, I look forward to those dark, chilly, nights where the silence is broken only by the sound of our blades moving rhythmically through the water. It makes me happy just thinking about it.
I have so much more to write and there are days when I feel the weight of all of those unwritten posts. I will get to them eventually but for now, I have to spend my quiet time reading, absorbing and learning so that I can follow this newest path wherever it takes me.
I am unexpectedly, really, really happy with this latest journey. I hope yours is equally fulfilling.
Until next time, Happy Easter, kids.
xo
