Ultimate Blog Challenge - Stuck?

Photo by Elijah O'Donnell

It feels like we have only just completed the July UBC, and yet here we are again. Welcome back! The Ultimate Blog Challenge is a chance to prove you can actually write a post every day for 31 days in a row.

I will use the month of October to go through a series of questions on a quest to find new purpose, pun intended. 

I came across Angel Lewis' writing prompts in the April UBC.

Day 1 is hard. The question is 

How do you feel stuck right now?

First of all: do I feel "stuck" at all?

It's not that my car broke down in the rain like in the above picture. If it did, I'd be glad to have a roadside assistance membership because I can't change a tire ;-)

Fun fact, or actually not so fun: When I was in my early 20s I came across a workshop called something along the lines of "car mechanic skills for ladies". I didn't want to do it, but I felt like I needed to acquire these life skills, so I signed up. I was pretty pleased about my taking personal responsibility and not depending on smirking guys. 

The workshop got canceled, due to a lack of attendees!!!

Back to being stuck.

Maybe the first question I should answer is, what made me pick these set of questions? What do I need new purpose for? 

Well, a large part of my purpose is eliminated by the fact that my baby boy is growing up at a fast speed. So fast that he literally doesn't need me to be around that much.

Up until recently I felt this was a good thing.

It started when he was only three months old. Instead of just hanging out and enjoying being fed, at some point, he grabbed his milk bottle as if he wanted to say "Hey Mom, I've got this, you may go do something else. Or - you can stay, take my picture and post it on the internet."

I was so proud of him!

Colin kept learning new things, and they would require my attention - or intervention - take walking, opening cabinets or painting on things other than paper.

When he was 14 months old I went back to work part-time in a demanding recruiting job with an airline, and for two out of these three days, he went to daycare, and on the third day, my parents were taking care of him. 

In terms of my own purpose, I had two from then on: being a Mom and having a fulfilling day job. Well, I probably should count being a wife and a home maker, too?

Over the course of the years, things changed. 

Due to the way the Swiss school system is set up, I was sort of forced to work locally, so I could leave the house at the same time he did, come home for lunch and again, be back home when school was out. Later he began to play ice hockey. More flexibility was required on my part.

There went my fancy job, and I started to work for my husband's IT business. It was a great move in terms of work/life balance though. Working at the same town we live at, has wonderful advantages, for which I am grateful. Working with your partner can be tough at times, and the tasks I do an a daily basis, are not the job I would kill for. 

On the other hand, if I am being honest, I don't know if I still have the energy and resilience to hold a senior position in my original field. 

I've been thinking about starting an HR consulting business. It could be on the side, no pressure. I even set up a draft for a website. However, I realize, once I press the publish button, all bets are off, so to speak. If I don't advertise, nobody discovers the website, and nothing happens. (Phew, case closed.)

Also, the website is very basic, and if I'm serious about it, it still requires a lot of work. And that's where I am stuck for sure. 

• I would need to determine my USP, my unique selling point. How am I any different from the many people on the market? I like to think of myself as someone who under-promises and over-delivers.
• However, am I even able to deliver? The job market has drastically changed, and I've been a bit out of the loop for the past ten plus years. I hate where recruiting is headed. Since there is a shortage of skilled workers, people just drop their generic resumés on free platforms, and employers are left to piecing together missing information.
• I would need to come up with a pricing. Where do I get reliable market data?
• Having your own company requires acquisition activities, which I don't like. I don't like to cold call potential customers and sell myself. 

So, as you see, a lot of hard work is required, and currently, since my imaginary car has not broken down in the rain, there is no suffering pressure for me to basically do anything.

I could just keep going the way I've been these past years, and things will just be a little easier for me. That wouldn't be such a terrible thing for a change. If it gets boring, I am sure I can find something valuable to do. I always did in the past. 

Actually, I have a few arrows in the quiver. Is that really an English term?

• One being a freelance commitment as a contributor to our town's quarterly magazine.
• I might keep volunteering as player support staff like I did last night. Ugh, I don't want to, though.
• I could put on my big girl pants and thoroughly clean up our entire house. A terrible thought!!

Who knows, maybe the October UBC will help find some clarity and new goals.

Thank you for reading, and I'll be back tomorrow.