Goodbye to Wonderemployment

I started this blog in January 2014 when one of my grants ended and my organization moved me to another project on a much more limited basis. I felt so unmoored by the shift, wondering who I was if not a good, productive, upwardly mobile professional. (Just to be clear, I no longer believe you have to work full time to be productive, and definitely don't believe anyone's worth is tied to their employment!) A lot has changed since then. I've had five job changes, earned my MPH, had two kids, started a Buy Nothing group (practically a part time job), and navigated a pandemic. I'm also no longer underemployed!

Last month I started a new job with my local public health department. It's meaningful work that is challenging, well-compensated (by my standards), in line with my experience and education, and has potential for growth and advancement-- all the things I've wanted in a job since I started this blog. I've been around enough to know that not everything works out as planned, and the actual day-to-day of a job can be a vast departure from its description. But I'm hopeful this will be "it" for awhile. I can finally call myself a bona fide public health professional! 

Truth be told, I thought landing this position would feel like a huge accomplishment and relief, but what all the changes of the last eight years have taught me is that there is simply so much more. More to life, more to my worth, more to the ways I contribute to my community, more to how I see myself. I am extremely grateful for the opportunity, and I AM proud of myself. But the backdrop for this achievement has expanded and grown more vibrant by the year. I owe some of that to this space, which helped me create a stronger, more complete narrative for myself. 

This blog hasn't just documented a career path, but also a writing journey too. While Wonderemployment was born from my need to find purpose and structure outside of working full-time, it morphed into more. I've talked extensively about other life transitions like marriage and parenthood, and used this space to express my values, process my past, and share updates from my life. It's been good to stretch my writing muscles beyond academic and professional settings. It's not easy for me to write without prompts or deadlines, so when I read through the archive, I'm pretty amazed at how much I've created (86 posts!). The freewheeling framework no longer works for me though. This blog has turned into a catch-all for my personal writing, and when it comes down to it, I don't know my purpose for sharing anymore. 

I also don't know who I'm writing for. I enjoy being open about my life, but in the past eight years, the internet and my perceptions of it have evolved. For starters, blogging as a medium seems pretty dead now, aside from the folks who've been able to make a career out of it. I've also grown increasingly uncomfortable with having my thoughts on the internet. I have three Instagram accounts and admin several Facebook groups, so I'm not exactly keeping a low profile. But more personal, long form sharing feels different. I want to have a voice and connect with people through my writing, but I'm not sure what I want that to look like anymore. If you have ideas for me, please let me know!

This is a long-winded goodbye. As usual, I'm writing to clarify my own thoughts, and bringing others along for the ride. If you've read this far, and have read my blog at all over the years, thank you. Truly. Since the first post, I've received so much encouragement from close friends, as well as acquaintances I haven't talked to in a decade or more. It's what has kept me going and allowed me to go deeper with my writing and sharing. I've been quite vulnerable in this space, and in turn have had people reach out to confide in me or find ways to vulnerable with their own spaces. That is the best outcome I could have ever hoped for. I hope somehow, someway, we can keep those conversations going. 

To the end of a wonder-full era...

Mai