How to move on (from someone still working it out)

I have been working in the care sector a few years now and every time I change jobs or even just client group ( I have already moved twice within the same organisation) I get really upset. I guess this is probably a sign I am in the right line of work but it sure doesn't make the goodbyes any easier. When I left Bluebird Care to go work in residential, I had been working long shifts with same young woman for over a year. As you do in my line of work, you form relationships and become attached and I remember getting into my car after my last day with her and bursting into tears and then proceeding to cry the entire drive home. In hindsight I probably should have pulled in as driving on the motorway while violently sobbing is not a particularly safe way to travel.

Over time I became less sad about what I had left behind as I built relationships in my new place of work. When an opportunity came up for me to move into my first social care position, this meant leaving the residential centre and venturing into the scary unknown otherwise known as a community house. This time I was saying goodbye to 11 instead of 1 but I still barely held it together on my final day there. Yet the move to the community, while daunting, proved to the best thing I ever did. I ended up in a lovely house working with a great team and supporting people I have grown incredibly fond of. It proved to be far more rewarding a setting but full of challenges so no danger of ever getting bored. 
I guess in some ways I pictured myself in this very house for much longer, I was happy and felt I was getting what I needed from the job.

Then last week I found out that it wasn't to be. A new house was opening in another part of Kilkenny and I had been selected to the social care worker there. I will admit I did not see it coming. It was a little similar to having someone break up with you when you thought the relationship was going just fine, if you will allow me a little melodrama here. Its been a lot to process but I know from my infinite experience that change can often be a good thing. 
I have been given my official start date so my days in my current place of work are quite literally numbered and I feel like I have a thousand questions about what this role will entail because while the job title is the same, its a brand new house with different clients and a whole new team so in many respects like starting a new job. I also have a to do list longer than my arm of loose ends I need to get tidied away ( in terms of paperwork) before I can happily move on because I am too damn conscientious for my own good.  On top of that I can't stop feeling sad that after 16 months working to support the residents of this community house that I wont be there to see where their future takes them next.

So I will be embracing this new opportunity and everything it brings because change is coming whether I want it to or not and so far in my career every step I have taken seems to have brought me closer to where I want to be. But between now and my last day I will be trying my very best to not bawl or at least make it as far as my car before I turn on the waterworks. 

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