Last Wednesday was a bittersweet day for me.
Although I retired from sales management as of January 1st to pursue my writing and speaking career on a national basis, my wife continued working with the Houston area Aflac management team. Since she needed to maintain an office for her duties, I also kept going to the office on a daily basis, unless traveling – or playing golf with my father-in-law 🙂
Once I retired, I did not keep the same office as when I was the State Sales Coordinator for Aflac.
No, instead of that spacious 375 sq. ft. office in the back of the building with the sofa, chair, huge bookcase, television and a bar that we all affectionately called, “Joe’s Bar and Grill” – I moved into the smallest office that we had.
Gone were the sofa, chair and bookcase. Gone were the 375 sq. ft.. Fortunately however, “Joe’s” found it’s way safely into my tiny new office. Whew!
I didn’t mind at all though, because all I needed was a space to write and create, along with a telephone.
I was a happy camper.
This month, my wife also decided to leave Aflac’s management team to work more directly with me. That is a great move for the both of us. She will handle the business details, allowing me more time to be creative.
As a result, we have moved our office into our home. We have a ridiculous amount of space for two people – 7,300 sq. ft. – so it certainly seemed appropriate. The movers were to come on Thursday, and my strong, able, and lovely wife was already packing the smaller items while I was speaking in Wisconsin. Did I mention how strong, able and lovely she is? 🙂
Upon my return on Wednesday, I began to help.
Part of that process, for me, included going through 21 years worth of awards and accolades. I needed to decide what to keep and what to throw away at this stage.
I will admit to you – that was very emotional for me. Even though my change happened seven months ago, it was on that Wednesday that it all finally hit home. We had both left management roles with a company that we truly loved – and the people we had worked with for years. [lightbox link=”http://jeffcwest.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/white-geese.jpg” thumb=”http://jeffcwest.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/white-geese.jpg” width=”300″ align=”right” title=”white geese” frame=”true” icon=”image” caption=””]
Change is usually tough – even when it is a great change that you really want. It is even tougher when change happens that is not necessarily the change you were looking for.
We will be discussing the best ways to handle change this week… unless I change my mind… 🙂
Stay tuned…
QUESTION: Were you worried about the status of “Joe’s Bar and Grill?” It is doing fine, in my house 🙂
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