The countdown has begun -four more weeks tied to the desk, four more weeks of shuffling papers, four more weeks.... I have to say, I'm getting more excited by the minute. The next four weeks won't be a picnic - it's going to be a daunting task trying to convey the complexities of this business in just over a month to someone fresh off the street. Not to mention all the pure housekeeping stuff that awaits me as I attempt to extricate myself from my little corner cubicle.
But there is a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, and it's even bigger than I first imagined.
I don't think I realized just how much I was ready to leave my job until I actually did it. Because I'm so resistant to change, I always wait far too long before taking that first crucial step. By the time I actually work up the courage to make a move, I'm nearly at the breaking point. My inertia also comes from an ever present hope that if I wait long enough, things will get better. Sometimes that happens - but more often than not, it doesn't.
You'd think I'd learn, after 55 years on the planet. But I sometimes wonder how much of our basic nature we can really change. "I yam what I yam," as Popeye used to say, on one of my favorite childhood cartoons.
And I "yam" excited - even though I'm not completely sure what comes next. Normally I'd be scared silly by that kind of uncertainty. But somehow it's more exhilirating than frightening. Perhaps because I've just watched some friends set off on a huge adventure on the other side of the world, and watched my son and daughter in law pull up stakes to start a new life in another state. They all set me thinking about the possibilities life has to offer if you're brave enough to take a teeny chance here and there.
So as well as being excited, I'm trying to be brave.
And make it through the next four weeks.