A Brand New Me
By Cindy Walker

As I sat down to write this month's article, a realization dawned on me. It smacked me right square in the head. This story is supposed to be about “A Brand New Me,” yet all I've been concentrating on is weight loss. There is so much more to discovering this “Brand New Me” than losing weight. Yes, that is a part of it, but not all of it. There are many things involved in this journey – some small, some big – and I need to push past the weight issue and look at everything.

I did have a “major” change in my life in March, and that was getting a new job. I still work for the same company; I just moved to a different office. And it's absolutely amazing how that move has changed my attitude. I was so miserable in my other job, and I was that way for about four years. It got to the point where I spent all day Sunday being depressed because I would have to go into what I called the “hell hole” the following day. I never really thought about how the negative atmosphere in the office affected me, It was like you had to walk on eggshells most of the time around some people because you never knew what kind of mood they'd be in. And it wouldn't take anything to set them off either. It didn't help that I wasn't really wanted in that office either. You see, my office closed down, and I was put into a smaller office – which at the time also had to cut back on employees. So, here I am thrown into the mix – which didn't really sit well with the administrative staff. And things went downhill from there. We got a new boss several months after my arrival, and that wasn't good for me. You see, I had been a staff secretary (what is now called an administrative assistant) for the Vice President and Regional Claims Manager (one of the seven staff managers in the building who reported to the top dog), and I also filled in for the Director's assistant when she was out sick or on vacation. So I had a highly respected position. There were not many of those positions in the building. In this new office, I found myself the mail clerk and doing all the crap jobs no one else wanted to do. No matter what I did, the new boss would not acknowledge my skills nor would he utilize them. I tried for four years to get him to see what I could bring to the office, but he refused to see past one person and thought they were the only one capable of doing anything. As if that wasn't bad enough, he would, for the most part, ignore me. I might get a quick “good morning” as he flew by my desk to get his coffee, but that would be it for the entire day. Yet he would stop and talk to and joke around with the person in the workstation beside me. And this person was not even his employee! Not to mention the favoritism he showed to one particular employee. It was so blatantly obvious, a lot of people in the office commented on it.

Now, I feel like a weight has been lifted from my shoulders. I love going to work. My bosses are absolutely wonderful (I have two). It's nice to see smiling faces in the morning instead of grumpy ones. It's nice to know that, for the most part, the people who come through the door in the morning have a smile on their face and actually not only say “Good morning Cindy” but they ask if I had a good evening or a nice weekend. They talk to me. I constantly hear “thank you,” which very, very rarely happened in the other office. I think I got thanked more in one week at the new job than I did the entire four years I was in the other office. Now that's sad. And here's one for you: in the other office, people would sit and watch me struggle with heavy boxes and stuff but never offer to get up and help. It's just the opposite now. I am just floored by the differences, and I can't believe how much this one step has changed my attitude and how I feel about myself. I feel like part of a team again, and I feel wanted, appreciated, and respected. Those are three things I haven't felt in quite some time.

You know, I didn't realize how much this affected me until several weeks ago    more >>