Five Minute Friday: Belong

Five Minute Fridays are the beautiful, unscripted moments that happen between Thursday night at the FMFParty on Twitter and for days and days after as post after post of inspiration and encouragement gets linked up at Lisa Jo Baker’s site here. Writers and joy abound and it’s a great place to be.

This Week: Belong

Go

If we work outside the home, we spend the bulk of our days with strangers, who slowly become an intricate part of our lives. We hope they might become friends. If we’re lucky, they might even start to feel like family. I’ve had one or two instances like that in my life, and far more many jobs where it was just a job; just a place to clock in; just a place to do my best work and then get out of there.

But really, I’m not built like that. I can pretend to be a tough girl who doesn’t care; someone who manages to stay above it all – and yes, part of that’s true. I’m a born loner and a bit of a fringe dweller, but that doesn’t mean I don’t want to have a place to belong – especially if I’m going to spend forty plus hours a week there.

My last job – meh. That was about as far from friends and belonging as I am from Calcutta. In the end, it was awful, and sent me in a downward spiral that took my health, my emotional well-being, and my sense of security for car wreck of a crash that almost leveled me.

I didn’t have a lot of hope after that – thought I’d be left on the fringes for the rest of my career – maybe thought I’d be freelancing for the rest of my life and popping in and out of teams that meshed and clicked – again – standing on the outside looking in.

And then I found the basement crew. Honestly, about the last thing I expected to do. After a lifetime career in marketing and communications, tech support was not where I saw myself going.

But I did.

And it fit.

Boy did it ever.

It's all a part of His timing and His plan, but this unusual mix of techie, geeky, authentically wonderful people welcomed me in, trained me and showed me that I had skills I hadn’t even realized, and more than anything, made me feel at home. I’ve been with them for about a year, but it wasn’t until this last week as I sat at my desk imaging one of the many new Microsoft Surface Pros that we’re rolling out later this year that I do indeed have skills outside of the box I’d always carried around, and that indeed, I had found my safe spot, my landing spot, my new work place that feels like home.

Stop

How to Join:
Want to know how Five Minute Friday got started and how to participate? All the details are here. No editing or second guessing. And then absolutely, no ifs, ands or buts about it, you need to visit the person who linked up before you & encourage them in their comments. Seriously. That is the rule. And the fun. And the heart of this community