Temporary promotion

As we all know (all two of my loyal readers, anyway), I have been pretty focused on my business, Burst of Happiness.

In real life, I'm a newspaper copy editor. Once upon a time, I was young and ambitious. Now I'm kind of young and not very ambitious. I graduated from college late, at 25. I started my first newspaper job at almost 27. I felt like I had wasted my entire life and was practically ready to retire. Now, at 33, I feel like I've been a copy editor for eons and have 30 more years to kill before I can retire.

Now, let me be honest. I like my job. I love my coworkers and I even love my bosses. Our assistant managing editor has been good to me and he's someone I like a lot. I feel like he's an ally in my future at the paper. I am not kissing butt here, because I don't think any coworkers know about this blog and it's unlikely anyone will happen upon it.

As I was saying, I do like my job, but lately I've been thinking about how important it is to enjoy your life outside of work. Work takes up a lot of your time, and it's important that you have other things going on that you enjoy. For me they are Mark and my sewing. So I haven't been thinking much about where I want to go career-wise at work.

Last summer, my direct boss's job was open. It was rough for a while because it remained unfilled. I finally applied just because I had been filling in several times a week anyway. That is probably what gave the idea to the higher-ups that I have hopes and dreams of moving up (not that I don't, but I guess I it's not something I think about a lot).

Yesterday, I was called into the managing editor's office. I think I looked terrified because she told me to quit looking so scared. She said that since two assistant city editors quit at the same time (one retired, one moved with his wife for her job) that they need some help and they'd like me to fill in for 6 weeks. She said they already discussed it with my boss.

Needless to say, I was completely surprised, but also very honored that they thought of me. It is a management job, so it's nice to be considered. I am scared of doing something different because I've settled into my comfort zone, but I think shaking things up is exactly what I need. I can learn something new and see if I'm interested in it for the future, or I can find out I much prefer what I do now and feel refreshed when I return.

I start in two weeks and return to my regular duties 6 weeks later!