Change is a Good Thing

So... a lot has happened in the last few months. I've FINALLY bitten the bullet and changed jobs. Wowee that was an effort and a half.

Now I don't mean finding a new job, by comparison that was simple.

• I found a a job I liked the look of (i.e. DREAM JOB!!)
• I applied
• I got a phone interview
• I go a video conf interview
• I got the job

Okay it took 6-8 excruciating weeks from woah to go... but seeing as it was the only job I applied for I think I was pretty lucky! It was what happened next that was awful.


I found out I got the job a couple of days before Fashion Week... I was wound even tighter than I usually am. I waited until we had put on our glorious show on and the next day gathered my courage, walked into her office and told her I was handing in my notice.

I shook like a leaf. Literally. Like a leaf on a tree on a windy day. I thought I was going to wobble, fall over, embarrass myself some how and show her how god damn SCARED I was to stand in front of her after 4 years and say "I'm leaving."

I walked out of her office 2 inches taller and feeling like the weight of the world had lifted off my shoulder. I had to hide the smile on my face as i left her office. But that wasn't the end of the difficulties... if anything it was just the start.

My contract said 4 weeks notice. Out of respect I gave 5 weeks. She demanded 6 and a half.

I worked from 7.30am to 6pm plus, every one of those 6 and 1/2 weeks... through my morning and afternoon teas, through most of my lunch breaks even.

I rewrote the entire administration manual. Purged my brain of every password I could remember. trained a replacement... trained a replacements replacement when the first one didn't work out.

Not. One. Complaint.

In amongst all of this I am packing my house. I moved out of my flat in Hamilton after 5 weeks of notice... whilst working stupid hours, visiting friends and family each weekend and generally procrastinating my arse off. Even organised to have the moving truck turn up on Saturday so I didn't have to take a day off work!

(Thanks to @meegandale83, @fdskinner, @nzzooboy and Cadell for helping me move. A HUGE shout out to my mum for coming over, helping to finish pack, going to the dump with me, motivating me, scrubbing the house from top to toe and generally being OMFG AWESOME!!)

And then... she surprised me... asked if she could host a goodbye party for me after work the Wednesday before I left. She put on drinks, food, she wrote a speech and said some really lovely things. How she had never thought I would leave. And then she gave me an AMAZING leaving gift... lets just say I won't need to buy new clothes for my new job for a good while!

So I left on a high, I held my head up and left with no regrets. I hoped in my (fully loaded down) car the next day and moved to Wellington... to a new chapter in my life.

I'll cover my first month in my new city, new job in a coming post.