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| Sunset on Friday evening |
My friend is a project manager for a large company in town, and we began to talk about her latest project. Wow! It was like finding someone who speaks your native language after spending a long time in a foreign country. In my own world of engineers, scientists and professors, I finally found someone who could speak project management.
As my friend described her current project, I mentally travelled back to my job as a Project and Program Manager. I remembered all the activities she discussed: meeting with sponsors and key stakeholders, managing project scope, holding project kickoff meetings, deciding when to push an issue when the team is in a "group think" mode, and learning whom you can trust.
We talked about how to deliver tough messages, how to handle the people who try to derail a project, and when you demonstrate strong leadership vs. blending into the team. My friend talked about the challenges and rewards of this role, and I realized I missed Project Management.
Holy cow! Who saw that coming? I was shocked to say the least. Here I am enjoying my third year of retirement and my total freedom from a work schedule, when I started wistfully thinking about finding a project manager job. And in the very next second I realized an intervention was necessary to help me escape that notion of joining the working world.
Ok, I haven't dusted off my resume or applied for any jobs. But I've been giving more thought to working again as a project manager. I don't know if that makes sense for me or not, but I'm no longer saying "I don't miss working at all"...
Diane
I smiled as I read your post, because when I have lunch with former work friends and they share the corporate drama, I'm quietly thinking "Thank God I'm no longer there, Thank God I'm no longer there!"
ReplyDeleteLife is a journey, so let it take you where it's going to take you . . . it's all good. There are really very few right or wrong decisions. There are just decisions, period. If you make one, and you decide later it's not working then make another one. Other than the opinions of your hubby, who I'm sure is part of any decision you might make, what do you have to lose by dipping your toe back in if you wish? You may decide you're refreshed and reinvigorated after time away, you may decide you only want to do it PT, you may decide you were remembering it through rose colored glasses and step right back out. Just don't make a decision that leaves you regretting the road not taken. You can always make a U-turn if necessary. :-)