A few weeks ago I got an email and the subject made my heat race for a brief moment of panic. It was notification that in 30 days my PMP (Project Management Professional) certification would expire. For anyone that isn’t familiar with project management it’s like an accountant letting their CPA go. When I quit working my ‘go to an office job’ I knew I would not renew when the time came so this did not sneak up on me or catch me by surprise. However, seeing those words was a little surreal.
I did enjoy my job for the most part, the people, the company overall were really great. The pay was pretty darn good too. Of course you have days from H E double hockey stick but that’s anything in life. I do not miss my ‘going to an office job’ it at all. I don’t miss the commute, I don’t miss long hours, I don’t miss working on someone else’s schedule and terms. The only thing I wouldn’t mind doing again is working with Microsoft Project. I’m a slight nerd when it came to the planning aspect of projects. I’m a planner. I LOVED it.
This is what my favorite part was. I would do sessions called Walk The Wall. The end result is this beauty! Can you follow it?!?!
After it was done I would first tape all of the Post-It’s to the paper so nothing fell off or got moved!! I’d then sit and translate it into a Microsoft Project plan. It was tedious but the end result is what I would get excited about.
So, the end of an era for me has come. My certification will officially expire. I’m ok with that. My new job of mommy has longer hours and no cash flow coming in but I wouldn’t trade it for anything. Even on the tougher days there are still lots of smiles and rewards you can’t put a dollar figure on. We create our own schedule and the time freedom is unexplainable. We do what we want when we want.
I don’t mean for that to sound like we wander around without a care in the world, we have a schedule and are productive contributors to society. We have Stroller Strides where we attend or I’m teaching, we have swimming lessons, we have school, we have MOMS Club activities and try to squeeze in music class at the library but it’s all things we do on our terms, we made the schedule and that’s what’s fantastic.
Good bye Lisa, PMP.
Leave a Reply