Work...Satisfying, but??

The return to work on Monday was uneventful. A bit of a novelty, actually, given that I’ve never taken a funded sabbatical. (Periods of unemployment are simply not comparable. The continual worry. The way others turn their heads when they pass. The silence of friends. People acting as if unemployment is a virus.)

A sixty day medical sabbatical is completely different. People are anxious to learn how I feel, act surprised that I seem to look the same as before. Even those with whom there was little contact before have “heard,” and ask about my health. Thankfully, the day-to-day activities and challenges were handled by others and I returned to a fairly clean desk. Unfortunately, some of the larger, annual responsibilities simply didn’t receive any action in the past 60 days and need completion. The simple head-shake that accompanies such delay is a frustration that hasn’t disappeared. In fact, it may have been underscored, given that people had two months to accomplish fairly routine tasks and didn’t get them done. Corporations seem to take their own time, turning the battleship in the Columbia is simply not an easy task. Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrgh!

As for my mental attitude, it is really fine. The first couple of days were mentally easy, almost like starting a new job. Now, with a few days under my belt, the thought of “this really is a job, not a novelty” has arisen. I’ll be rejuvenated when visiting clients and prospects in the next two weeks, but once again that will lead to delay in the projects mentioned above. I figure if they didn’t get resolved in sixty days, another six to ten won’t poison the result.

All in all, a successful return. I remain convinced that the economy needs to rebound and I must put much more money aside for retirement…so that it more closely resembles this sabbatical period. At my age, though, either worries about health or worries about retirement will remain, and I’ll take the worries about retirement—anytime!