Change is scary

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I remember the night before the scheduled Cesarean.  We sat there on the couch watching the baby roll around in my wife’s belly not fully embracing tomorrow was the day our lives were going to change forever.  I remember when we closed on the house we freaked out about the mortgage payment.  I remember when I landed a job in Richmond, Virginia how anxious I was about the move from Philadelphia.  Change is inevitable. We never do stop swimming.  And now, well, change is again on the horizon.

 

Back in January I received an email through LinkedIn about a job opportunity.  It gave me flashbacks to the days of old when I would receive communications through CareerBuilder, HotJobs or Monster about some sales job.  I never did want to be an insurance salesman.  I wanted to stay on the account management side.  Over time my goals have changed slightly.  I began delving into the IT management side of the business just a bit and am enjoying the experience.

I sat on the email for a few days.  Following a long, hard day at the office I decided it might be a good time to look around and check out the grass on the other side of the fence.  I started with the LinkedIn email.  Upon the response, I ended with the LinkedIn email.  What I read about was an amazing opportunity with a large financial institution where I would assist them in converting their insurance agency management system throughout their vast array of locations into one solid platform.  The opportunity would enable me to combine my education and experience in insurance with my passion for tech and info systems.  Long story short, after a 4 month project delay, several phone interviews and a Skype interview, I got the job.

In 2001 I landed my first job in insurance.  It was working in the mail room for a local broker.  I was making $19,500 a year and I thought I had it made.  It was the highest paying job I ever had.  After speaking with the folks in the commercial department and making some pretty close friends, I decided I wanted insurance to be my career.  I expressed my interest to management, obtained my insurance license and went from there.  I took the rough road and had some ups and some downs along the way.

I’ve been with my current employer for 5 years.  I have had the pleasure of working alongside some of the most brilliant insurance minds in the area.  I have made some close friends along the way.  I love where I work, but this is one opportunity I cannot pass up.

I am extremely excited about the future and am looking forward to the challenges ahead.  I will be spending a lot of time on the road.  I will be living out of hotels every once in a while.  When I am not on the road, I will be working remotely.  It is going to take some adjusting, but sometimes we have to step outside our comfort zone to move ahead and get where we want to be.

See this isn’t about the friends I have made or the company that believed in me and gave me the opportunity I needed so desperately back in 2006.  This is about my family and paving a path that can set a solid foundation for the future.

The future is a scary place that none of us can imagine, but it can also be what we craft it to be.  It can be a beautiful world full of promise and potential.  We just have to take advantage of the opportunities presented before us.  It is up to us to decipher as to whether or not those opportunities will benefit us or not.  I honestly believe this one will.

I am going to miss the company I spent half a decade with.  I am going to miss my family while I am on the road.  I am going to miss kissing my baby girl goodnight and wishing her sweet dreams.  I am going to miss that feeling in the house when the baby finally falls asleep and the wife and I sit there on the couch watching crappy reality television.

But the wife and I are both on the same page.  We are going to embrace and enjoy the challenges ahead and just keep swimming.

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