Tuesday, July 22, 2008

The World Just Keeps On Spinning....

I know it has been awhile since you all have heard from me, and all I can say about that is "I'm just happy I'm here!".

That seems to have become a litany with me over the last few weeks as the world has swirled around me so fast over the last couple of weeks that it has been all I could do to just hang on. It started with my job.

In late May, it was announced that my company would undertake a head-count reduction in order to save money. In order to reach their savings goal, a 10% global workforce reduction was announced for sometime in July. Now your girl here has been in this industry for 12+ years, and is no stranger to "head-count reductions" having been faced with six such situations prior to this announcement. Therein lay the source of my own particular stress. As conceited as I can be sometimes, I have always been acutely conscious of this one fact:

As special as I am, I AM NOT SPECIAL AT ALL!!!

and knowing this as I do, I was quite sure that it was time for my number to come up [as it always does, unless that is, it is the number to the winning POWERBALL Lottery ticket and then I know I can forget about it!]. Anyway, I was convinced that I would be one of the individuals whose life would be changed by the downsizing and thus was preparing myself for the possiblity of a return to my former career as a pharmacist; an eventuality that though tolerable is not one that I would preferentially choose.

On Friday, July 11th, we were asked to remain at home and to await a phone call that would let us know our fate with the company. I SURVIVED. All I can say is that it seems I may be living right and for that I am very grateful.

As harsh as that scenario was to live through (AGAIN), I must add that my company made me proud to work there as they have been more generous than any of us ever expected them to be in terms of the severance packages and additional benefits they provided to those displaced in this situation. Though losing one's job is obviously a very difficult situation with which to deal, in my opinion, my company surpassed my personal expectations for what any company in this day and age would ever consider doing for those who were being displaced. Without question, I have a new respect for the leaders at my company.

In the midst of all of that stress, I am still trying to coordinate this family cruise which once I am on it in November will be the trip of a lifetime but which is today, THIS DA-YUM-ED FAMILY CRUISE. Step into my life for a minute and imagine yourself trying to make sure that 30 or so black folks to whom you are related have handled the myriad of details necessary to get their broke azzes out of the country for 9 days. From orchestrating passport application completion parties to trying to figure out the most economical route of travel to get everyone to and from the port without breaking the bank, to getting some of my knuckle-headed relatives to just return a phone call, I must say DAYUM, DA-YUM, DA-YUM!!!

Okay, got that out of my system. That brings us to this WATCH ME SHRINK thing I've gotten myself into. See what had happened waz....

I was doing just fine. I had NOT lost any weight the first week, but the inches were getting with the program and I was cool with that. When I continued to lose inches the second week but still no weight, I started to wonder what the heck was up. Then I thought back to the fact that I had recently seen my doctor for a neck injury at which time his office scale had said my weight was 210 pounds. The convergence of all of these things led me to the discovery that my "trusty scale" just might NOT be so trusty afterall. Confirming this to be fact, I went out on Sunday and purchased myself a new scale and started with a new baseline of 207 pounds on Sunday (this was 10 pounds heavier than my old scale said I was). This would be a devastating blow to some, but I am so committed to this thing that I simply took it in stride. I don't know what it is this time, but I know that NOTHING will stop me from reaching my goals and with a lil' help from my friends (even the invisible ones ;), I know that the prize is already mine! So here is a little video to show you all that I truly mean biznezz!!! I am not dumb enough to miss that the images in this video are not flattering; however, I've got my eyes on that day in the future when the first video of THE REAL ME goes up and all of you go scrambling back in my archives to today to see just how far my journey has taken me....Now that'll be something....


8 comments:

Dreamy said...

girl you look good, your body is nice, wanna see mines???lol

keep up the good work, and trust me from a person that has been around the block a few times with this fitness thing, dont pay too much attention to the scale.

your on the right track to getting yourself healthy and in shape!!!

happy you came back mami, cause i added you to the blog roll, and was missing ya!!!

GO SHARON!!!!!

Fergie said...

Keep on Keeping on! I'm watching you. Even motivated me to step it up a bit.

GO US!!!

CapCity said...

Yea, as dreamy & fergie said: "GOOOOO Sharon! & Gooooooo USSSS!!" We gonna DO THIS! I'm calling u this weekend to set up our call TO action Plan;-). Keep your ringer ON!

CapCity said...

P.S. - U R THAT special & don't U evah forGET it!! ;-)

Mizrepresent said...

Do your thing girl and i'm with Cap! You are SPECIAL!

LadyLee said...

Okay, blogger is FINALLY letting me leave a comment over here. You're not trying to ban me, are you Oldgirl?

Tell her Cap! Tell her Mizrepresent! SHE IS SPECIAL!!

The powers that be at the job KNOW this, Ma!

Keep striving towards that goal. I'm cheering you on!!!!

Unknown said...

Way to go! Thanks for the thorough and informative video. Don't forget the water!!!

Sharon shares said...

At all:
Thanks so much for the support, it is soooooooooooooo very appreciated! I am feeling great and things are going extremely well right now so I have not a single thing about which to complain. And Bella, a special thanx to you for the H20 advice, but I've got that covered as well and have been drinking about 3 liters a day. That in and of itself is a major accomplishment for me.....Stay strong my sistahs!!