December 9 Challenge. Something that really made you grow this year. That made you go to your edge and then some. What made it the best challenge of the year for you?
I am the type of person who thrives on challenges. Tell me “no” without a good reason and there is something inside of me that says, “I’ll show you!” Honestly, I think that I was born that way. To illustrate…my family likes to tell a story that occurred when I was a toddler (perhaps 2 or 3 years old). My dad had told me not to play with an outlet, but I didn’t listen. So for the first time, he put me over his lap and gave me a couple of swats on the behind. When I sat up from my spanking, I bit him in the stomach. He pushed me away in shock. Later, when everything had settled down, he placed me on his lap and said, “Kim, you bit Daddy!” To which (family legend says) I calmly responded, “Daddy, you hit Kim!” He was this big, intimidating guy so that cracked my family up. For some reason, the memory still does (?!) Let’s just say that I was the only child (of the five of us) that my father never spanked again. I’m still not sure whether or not that was a good thing for my character…
Fast forward to 2009. I think that losing my BabyZone/ParentZone job (when the site was discontinued) was the best challenge of the year. I wrote a little about it on the I Lost My Job post. It has been over four months since it happened and I think that I have grown both personally and career-wise as a result. Time is a great teacher, right? Although I have been fortunate enough to land some consulting jobs that have paid up to 10 times my former hourly rate (!), I admit that I still miss the consistency of a steady paycheck. After a few months, I also realized that I missed having a work outlet where I focused exclusively on the NYC area. So…why is this the best challenge? Well, I think that anything that tests my faith and gives me clarity regarding what I really like to do works together for my ultimate good.
The practical benefits of the job elimination:
-It freed up some time. That gave me the chance to do a variety of things including: awesome consulting projects; reflecting on what I want to do for the last few years of my “mommy decade”; and coming up with new plans for “Mom in the City”.
-It helped me to remember that I had not lost “my hustle”. I have always been able to make a (legal) dollar. I had to remind myself that I was the same girl who came to Columbia with less than $20 in my pockets, simply because I wanted to be there. Even at 18, I was very “how to get from a to b” in my thinking. I knew that I would need to get a job that paid cash that was within walking distance of campus my first week of school…and I did. Fortunately, my work is the “gravy” of our family’s budget. However, I have realized that I REALLY like gravy, so it’s been fun creating new financial opportunities by merging my corporate and “mom” experiences. I still have the best of both worlds.
And
-It gave me time to decide what I want to do work-wise in 2010. I definitely want to keep the “Mom in the City” blog. The blog theme for 2010 will be “An Empire State of Mind”. (I like themes.) Basically, I will be going back to the roots of the site – an information resource for NYC moms of young kids. Of course you won’t have to live in NYC to enjoy the site… it’s more about a mindset (urban, new, unique, best) than an actual physical location. Let’s hear it for New Yooooork! In conjunction, I will be starting a weekly NYC newsletter that focuses on local events, resources and such in addition to the monthly national newsletter. Lastly, I will continue to speak, write and do business consulting projects. I’m excited!
Okay, that is enough about me. What was your best challenge of 2009?
(By the way the thumbnail image of my sons with Santa and the Rockettes has nothing to do with this post…other than the fact that it was a uniquely NYC experience.)