Transition Period Over

At our civil ceremony in Zurich, 15th of August this year, the actual wedding is set for September  2012

I believe some of you know that since I have moved to Switzerland (May this year) I have been on a job search. There have been almost seven months until I found the job that I like and that hopefully will bring me great satisfactions. I start on November 28, so I still have one week of freedom, of sipping my morning coffee while reading my favorite blogs :) But before I move to this new chapter in my life, I want to write about this past seven months, a period that was sometimes hard but in the end proved to be very fulfilling.

So it all started when I decided to quit my job in Romania and come join Traian, in this new adventure we were so looking forward to. I had been working for almost five years and the job I had, as any job, was sometimes stressful, sometimes boring, sometimes challenging... So when I resigned I was happy that I was getting a new beginning, sad that I was leaving some great people behind and full of hope that it won't be long until I could find a new job. This was actually my goal for the future, find a job as soon as possible. I wasn't considering having to wait more that one to two months before something would come up. I was cocky I guess and also I knew that everyone had these high expectations from my part that I didn't want to disappoint... Imagine my surprise when I saw that things were't going as planed. Besides the working permit issues, I had also some bad experiences with two companies, that made me feel even more desperate. I was, as one of my friends described it, a sea fish that was thrown in the ocean and now had to survive in it. New country, new home, new people, new job market and new rules. It was a lot of new to take in, that in the end was so much better then expected.

I can honestly say that I found more about myself in these months of unemployment than in the 5 years spent working. First, I got married to Traian, my boyfriend for the last 4 years. It was the sort of thing that we knew it would eventually happen between us, that wasn't planned and that changed our lives. 

Secondly, I've learned that a job is as important as we let it to be, that only because it takes most of our time, it doesn't mean that it should define us. What should define us the most are our passions, our hobbies, our family, our friends. I always thought I knew this, after all I was the one that so many times said that would love not to have to work, but when I found myself in the situation of missing my office hours I knew I had all my priorities wrong. This was the hard part, discovering what really matters to me, and it was a day by day process, with some bad days spent in pajamas on the couch feeling sorry for myself (lucky me I had Traian by my side to keep me going) and with some very good days (thank God for these), travelling, discovering the city, doing the German class, meeting new people that would become my friends, having time to notice all the beautiful things around me and of course blogging about all of them. 

When I finally came to peace with this, I started seeing the job search as something that I could actually enjoy, I even tried to organize my time so that all my new activities could fit in. It also helped getting dressed in the morning in other then just sweats and T-shirt when I had no plans to get out (this was mostly for the fashionista in me). And when I finally found the job, I was very happy and not only for the job itself but because I was coming from this transition period stronger and wiser. And this is one good feeling to get from a journey you didn't foresee.

What about you? Did you ever find yourselves in a similar situation, having to look for a job and having all this free time on your hands? How did you deal with it?  I would just love to get your thoughts on this...