{Thankful November} 23: Discomfort
December 22nd, 2011 | Rachel
Join me in the comments or on your own blog as I give thanks every day this month.
If you read the title of this entry and immediately thought of an ad for FiberOne, you are not alone. It did not go over well with my test audience. Still, no one could think of a word that better summed up my point. If you have a suggestion, please share.
Simply put, I am thankful for the times we are inconvenienced, uncertain and uncomfortable because those are times we are the most creative and resourceful. Those are also the times we are inspired to consider other possibilities and try new things because it is easier to see how much we have to gain… and how little we have to lose.
A prime example of this is my last job at the law firm. It was no secret that I wasn’t loving the job anymore, and I regularly joked about what I would rather be doing (namely, moving to France and opening a bed and breakfast, which is how this blog was named). Even though I knew I would be happier doing something else, the fact remained that I was making a very comfortable salary at the firm and enjoyed a lot of other perks of being a “successful” professional in New York City.
Then the day came when two partners walked into my office and informed me the firm was “terminating its relationship” with me.
The first emotion to hit me was that of indignation. How dare they tell me they didn’t need me.
The second was of panic. What did this mean about my financial stability? My career?
The third and longest lasting emotion was that of annoyance. The Plan was to work at the firm for five years and then take my life skills and nest egg elsewhere. Instead, I was suddenly faced with the question of “what do I really want to do?” two years early with barely any legal experience or money in my bank account.
At first, I tried to find a similar law firm job to keep in line with my original plan. However, as the months passed and my severance came to an end with no job prospects in sight, I realized I was going to have to start considering other possibilities.
I had already filled out the paperwork to collect unemployment when I stumbled upon the help wanted sign at my present bakery. Sure, when it came to lawyer jobs I didn’t want to consider anything that paid less than six figures, but when it was an issue of collecting piddly unemployment versus getting paid $9 an hour, the decision wasn’t quite so extreme. Unemployment would have paid more, actually, but I knew I needed the daily structure and was curious to gain more experience in the hospitality industry. Plus the bakery offered health insurance.
Throughout those first few months after I got laid off, I kept telling people that I wished I could see myself in six months because I knew everything was going to be ok, but I didn’t know how I was going to get there. All I knew is that the transition was going to be very uncomfortable and little bit scary.
Curbing my spending habits and moving out of my apartment so I could sublet it and save money were a huge pain in the ass. Sorting through the mountains of paper in my office and moving out all of my personal belongings was beyond inconvenient. Packing up all of my kitchen supplies, furniture and clothes and putting them into storage until I move to California was downright annoying.
Still, I am thankful for all of the discomfort I’ve experienced over the past year because it is pushing me towards a life far more fulfilling than the comfortable life I was living before.
{Thankful November} 22: Education
November 29th, 2011 | Rachel
Join me in the comments or on your own blog as I give thanks every day this month.
From preschool through law school, I feel blessed to have had a challenging yet balanced formal education. I am thankful for all of the teachers who helped me along the way, particularly my AP government teacher, Jerry Willard, who is the reason I majored in political science as an undergrad, studied in Oxford through a political science program, took an international law class while at Oxford, loved that international law class so much I decided to go to law school, and went to law school at the University of North Carolina, his alma mater.
I believe equal access to education starting from a young age is essential in the fight against poverty, crime, drugs, and a host of other social ailments we have today. I hope that one day (sooner than later) we will make primary and secondary education the political priority that it needs to be to keep our country socially healthy and globally competitive.
Thank you, formal education.
{Thankful November} 21: Smells
November 29th, 2011 | Rachel
Join me in the comments or on your own blog as I give thanks every day this month.
I’m thankful for all of my senses, but smell is something I’ve developed a whole new appreciation for since working at the bakery.
Sometimes I show up at work and the whole kitchen smells like warm chocolate cake. Other times it smells like butter, sugar and vanilla. When I open in the mornings, the kitchen often smells like toasted bread from the freshly baked muffins and scones with a hint of chocolate chip cookies. The walk-in refrigerator downstairs often smells like oranges and fresh ginger.
The week leading up to Thanksgiving, the kitchen frequently had an odd vegetative scent resulting from the dried beans used to pre-bake the pie crusts. Another unexpected scent is that of boiled potatoes, which are used in the dough for the cinnamon rolls and the sticky buns.
When I am working out front, I am surrounded with the aroma of fresh ground coffee beans whenever we brew a new pot of coffee or pull a shot of espresso. Some of the teas also have unmistakable scents: hot cinnamon spice, green, and pearl jasmine. Every now and then a foreign scent will waft in from outside, like cigarette smoke or asphalt. Yesterday a woman came in the bakery whose perfume was so strong it just about knocked me out.
Good or bad (but preferably good), I am thankful for the many scents that enhance my day.
{Thankful November} 20: Socks
November 29th, 2011 | Rachel
Join me in the comments or on your own blog as I give thanks every day this month.
Now that the weather is turning cold again, thick socks are once again my savoir from otherwise icy cold feet. I stocked up on some particularly good socks for my trip to Tibet this past January, and I am enjoying them now as part of my city wardrobe. My favorite brand is SmartWool, which are definitely worth the extra dollars. If you happen to find them on sale, be sure to stock up for yourself and then send me some as well.
Thank you, thick socks, for keeping my feet so toasty warm.
{Thankful November} 19: Friends
November 29th, 2011 | Rachel
Join me in the comments or on your own blog as I give thanks every day this month.
Group shot from our 2011 holiday party (thanks Lucie!)
Last weekend, Steve and I hosted somewhere between 65 and 70 of our favorite people at our apartment for Steve & Rachel’s Annual Semi-Formal Holiday Wine & Cheese Party. I don’t think I have taken the time to publicly thank everyone who came, so if you did, thank you. It was by far our best party yet, and it meant so much to us to have so many special people in one location. To those of you who couldn’t make it, you were definitely missed. I hope you will be able to come next year when we host our semi-formal holiday wine and cheese party once again… on the west coast.
If you ask me what I will miss most about New York City, at the top of my list are the amazing people I have met and become friends with over the last three years. Everyone here is so intelligent, driven, passionate, diverse and open to new people and new experiences.
Although I am sad to leave all of these special people, it is really comforting to see how many people from my past are still a big part of my life. In the photo above from our recent holiday party, I see a friend from high school in South Carolina, two friends from college in Georgia, a friend from my summer associateship in 2007, a friend from my old lawyer job, friends from church, friends from my new job at the bakery, and friends I’ve made through other friends.
This past year I’ve had the fortune of spending time with a lot of old friends that have visited New York, as well as in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Virginia, and even Taiwan! I’m already looking forward to coming back to the city for visits and hosting visitors in California.
I don’t want to start naming names, since I’ll probably leave out someone who is really important, but I will conclude with some photos of particularly significant friends from my past lives. To all of my friends pictured or not, I am very thankful for you, and I look forward to what the future brings us.
Mini-reunion with some of my favorite high school friends
Visiting my college friend Kristi in Taiwan
With college friends Amelia and Sarah in St. Maarten
College friend Amelia at my 26th birthday party in the city
Law school bestie, Jon, at a mutal friend’s wedding in Chicago
NYC partner in crime, Davina, at our Third Annual Oktoberfest Bier Krawl
Ice climbing with my adventure buddy, Carey, who I’ve known since middle school
