Blog

I’m sat on a plane, reminiscing. To say the least, the past year has been a crazy roller coaster of a ride. A little bit I’ve shared here and there, much of it I’m still not ready to blog about…but what I do know with 100% certainty is that the past 14 months have been filled with too many ups and downs. One definite and unexpected victim of the past year has been my life as a personal blogger, almost entirely.

I’ve posted once every couple of months since all of this started but mostly on topics that didn’t require much openness or honesty about what was really happening with ME.  I wrote mostly marketing articles on LinkedIn or food blogging posts. I stopped being candid because I didn’t want people to know what was really, genuinely going on with me, because I didn’t always have a whole lot of great things to share and because I had lost my sense of humour…because life was not sunshine and rainbows anymore.

On the downside, I’ve had pretty much zero financial security and have had to change jobs and move between India and China three times if you can believe that (living out of suitcases in the USA in between while looking for work). I’ve had my heart broken only later to be mended by the same guy (with whom I’m still going strong albeit at a distance since I left India). OH, and the worst – which was incidentally also the BEST – was watching my little girl turn into a woman and walk down the path to starting her own life and her first year of university in the UK in 2013 (yes, yes a birdie’s gotta fly, but being a full time mommy was the best part of my life…so it was hard to leave behind).

Although there have certainly been struggles, this crazy year has delivered some ‘upside’ incredible memories, too. The first thing that comes to mind is the myriad of moments that I shared with my daughter in both India and California…from crazy road trip antics during the summer of 2013 in south India, to special moments in the hills of SoCal this summer, and certainly watching her gain her independence ranks high…and these memories warm my heart whenever I think of them!! Also, thirteen years ago I donated my ‘eggs’ to two very dear friends in New York who went on to have twins – a boy and girl – and last year I met them for the first time, which was a wonderful gift. Next, all of the job changing also gifted me two extended sojourns in the USA and I was able to spend lots of time with family and to catch up with old classmates. Lastly, there were incredible bucket list accomplishments like walking on the Great Wall of China.

And now I’m sat on a plane headed to San Francisco where I will spend the next 3’ish weeks absorbing knowledge and learning as much as possible about my new company, the industry landscape surrounding us and interacting with as many new team members as humanly possible before relocating permanently to Hong Kong on the 10^th of October!  It’s pretty amazing, all of it. I’ve been trying for YEARS to move out of the volatile, unstable world of start-ups and the dream is finally realised. I’m heading up the global marketing communications efforts for a company that has been in business for over 30 years and is run by entrepreneurs who graciously care about their ‘human’ resources around the globe as much (or more) as anything else. It’s the first time in my almost 19 years working in MarComs that I’ve NOT started with a company that wants me to ramp up in record time. I’ve been asked to take it nice and slow and think in terms of possibly ramping up in weeks and months, NOT in days or weeks. Who knew that companies like this existed? Certainly not me! I’m counting my lucky stars and feeling grateful and blessed every day.

It’s been hard since the economy tanked for many people, and my daughter and I definitely had a rough go of it since 2010. So I have decided that TODAY is the first day of the rest of my life…not in 26 days when I settle into my new home in Hong Kong. I see sunshine and rainbows again (well, not literally because I’m cruising along at 35,000 feet but you know what I mean), weekend plans are a-brewin’ starting each month now with the guy I’m crazy about, and the stress of being unsure if I can provide for my daughter’s education or even afford a birthday gift for her this year is gone.

Today, life feels lighter than it has since 2010 (when I was laid off, with half the company, from my favourite job I’d ever had) and for that reason I can’t seem to wipe a silly perpetual smile from my face! It’s my honest hope that this blog post acts as the launching pad to many more – and my return as a personal blogger – because before I leave the USA I would love to share some tidbits on the reality of ‘reverse culture shock’ … ’cause sure as shootin’ there are some damn funny things that have popped up here in ‘Murica since I moved away almost 12 years ago!!

XOXO Angela

© 2014, Angela Carson and Angela-Carson.com. All rights reserved. Do not copy and reproduce text or images without permission.