Speaking For the Sallies (and Others With No Voice)

Sometimes in professional life, stars align.  Your job becomes something that you absolutely adore.  Not for an eternity, but for much longer than a moment.  And these periods of time get you through the times when you just feel out of sync. 


9-11 had a specific effect on everyone.  For me, I did some major reevaluation of what I do during the majority of my life: work. 

I studied business at UT and graduated a few months before 9-11.  Many of my classmates were puzzled by my decision to study business because the private sector didn't appeal to me.  I wanted to be an entrepreneur in the nonprofit sector, and I knew that a strong business background would be a prerequisite.

But when I graduated, I found it difficult to find a job that suited me.  The dot com bust had happened, and I wasn't quite sure which direction to go.  I did know that all I wanted to do was to save up as much money as possible and see more of the world.  So I moved home and got a job at the headquarters of a department store and worked in trend development for women's clothes.  I told myself  It's only for a few months.  But I quickly realized that 90% of my coworkers were miserable, and I wasn't happy myself. 

9-11 happened, and I had a flight to Malaysia for two days later.  I was meeting a friend who was in Australia, and we were going to travel around Malaysia and India and then go trekking in Nepal for several months.  Of course, the trip was canceled.  Aside from the cancellations of international flights, there were riots in Kathmandu and typhoons in Malaysia.  So, we changed our plans.  She met me in San Francisco, and we saw as much as the western US as possible.  We visited a dozen national parks and drove through snow and desert heat.  And I had a lot of time to think about which direction I wanted my professional life to go once the trip was over.  I decided that even if I was saving up for something big in the future, it wasn't worth it to me to take a job (even temporarily) that didn't fit my needs.  I came to the conclusion that I really had three requirements for jobs.

1.  I must be constantly learning.  I'm absolutely miserable if I'm bored.
2.  I must be contributing to the greater good of the world.  Bash my bleeding heart, but I know from experience that this is an inescapable requirement for me.
3.  I must be working in the realm of education or environmental work, and my absolute sweet spot combines these two passions.

My dad and I had many heart-to-hearts while I was in college and after, and he brought up his valid  point of view that I don't have to save the world at work.  His thought was that many great people have ordinary jobs and spend their free time volunteering and helping others.  I came to realize that these people are awesome, and I really respect them, but they are different from me.  It comes down to the fact that I want to spend the majority of my waking hours making a difference and leaving the world just an inkling better.  And the reality is, I can still volunteer in my free time.  Nothing keeps me from that. 

So once I realized my personal requirements, my career path took a turn for the better.  I took jobs in Germany and Cape Cod, and then I joined Teach For America and moved to the US-Mexico border.  I got to see the world while I was working.  And while I've had utterly exhausting jobs, I can honestly say that I'm proud of the work I've done at each of them. 

Which brings me to why this topic has been on my mind so much lately.  My working days are numbered.  At least, my working-outside-the-home days are numbered.  While I'm not opposed to doing some contractual work here and there, I will not be working full-time outside the home for at least a few years.  I've dreamed of the day when my job will be to raise an amazing little child full time, and that time is finally here. (YAY!)

But that doesn't mean I won't miss my work.  I've been extremely fortunate at my current job because I have worked on a variety of projects that have kept me humbled by my lack of knowledge and the sheer brilliance around me.  Not only that, but the icing on the cake is that my work family is such a loving group of people that have supported my husband and I when times have been tough.

A few weeks ago, I spent the week downtown at a workshop between my employer and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.  I was proud to be part of a team working to write a Candidate Conservation Agreement with Assurances (CCAA) for a local threatened species, the Jollyville Plateau salamander.  Here's a photo one of my coworkers took of one of the little sallies.

These salamanders only live in northwest Austin, and while they are not on the endangered species list, they should be.  The reality is that too many species are becoming endangered for the Service to list them all in a timely manner, so my employer, the City, is taking a proactive measure to treat the salamander as an endangered species even though it is not. 

No city in this country has ever created a CCAA.  (They are usually done by environmental nonprofits.)  We will set an example for others to follow not only in our area, but all over the country.  As I sat in the workshop all week, I couldn't help but think how lucky I was to be a part of it.  I had a week of professional bliss.  A week when I honestly didn't feel the need to be paid because I was learning so much and was so eager to be a part of the team.  Weeks like that can carry me a long way.  Even though I'm back in the office doing the back end grunt work now, I'm still on Cloud 9.  It's probably a combination of really being professionally fulfilled right now and also knowing that I will miss this next year.  I'll be in a different line of work, but lucky for me, it will still fit my three requirements.