"The only constant is change." - Heraclitus

"Change is good." - Taco Bell

A couple of weeks ago when I got laid off, I blogged about change... Since then I've had a lot to think about... both good and bad.  My initial reaction was panic.. especially since I've never been laid off before.  Then, to top it all off, two weeks later I messed up my ankle (found out today that I probably broke it.. but it's healing.. oh well.. )

There's been a lot of change...

But not just in my life.. but in me as well.  In the last month, I've found in myself new strengths and weaknesses.. new desires and ambitions.. but also a new ability to relax and watch life around me.  I had said before that every time I started a new job, I never took time off in between... I quit one job on Friday and started another on Monday... This time.. I've had a whole month imposed on me to think about life.. and I'm not sure whether I'm ready to go back...

Maybe I've been calmer than I thought I would because I knew sooner or later I'd get something... and I had saved up enough to spend a year searching if I had to..  but I'd like to think I found a calmness in myself that I never knew was there...

I've often wondered what it will be like when I can finally write full time.. and quit the corporate world.  The idea has always frightened me a bit.. but now that I've had a taste of it.. it frightens me less.... In addition, thanks to Val, I've got some new ideas of what my future writing could be.. and it ties in nicely with my love of travel and new places.. I'm still ruminating on what that future could hold.. and it's rather exciting...

Even being on crutches for a couple of weeks has taught me lessons.. both about what I can accomplish when I set my mind to it.. and what others go through all the time that I never appreciate.  It also taught me the value of dear friends.. a lesson I'm not soon to forget...

Although I didn't end up making the leap into the darkness I initially had considered.. I got a taste of what it might be like.. and it's sweeter.. much sweeter.. than expected.. I've enjoyed my time off in a way that surprised me.. and that's a good thing..

In the meantime, I've had interviews... and I'll probably be re-employed here in the next couple of weeks.  And I saw a doctor about my ankle today and I'll probably be back on it within the week.  I've even started to edit a new version of my query letter.

Soon everything might be back to "normal."

I just hope I'm not...

I hope I can remember the lessons .. the truths.. I've come to appreciate over the past month.. and will continue to learn well into the future .. I hope...

"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." - George Santayana

Let's try to avoid that.. shall we...?