Life Update: Moving Back to Charlotte
Hi there! If you’re new here, welcome! To my old friends, welcome back! I hope this post finds you well. I’m currently snuggled up next to a fireplace at Starbucks, and it feels so good to be back and blogging again. To kick things back off, I thought it would be fitting to share a life update with you all since I’ve been MIA for a while. It’s literally been a year and a half since I wrote my last blog post. During this time period I was working full time while pursuing my MBA. This by far was one of the busiest, most demanding seasons of my life; and one that required me to step away from a few things for a period of time, including my blog. I initially felt guilty about stepping away from my blog during that time, but I eventually learned to accept the fact that I couldn’t fully give myself to everything in this season and to extend myself some grace. Since graduating, however, I’ve had a burning desire to return to the place God led me to six years ago and to start blogging again. So here we are!
Now…it’s been about nine months since I graduated; but a lot has happened over the past few months, so let me catch you up!
Career Change & New City. During my time in grad school, I began doing a lot of soul searching which eventually led me to pivot careers and move back down south. For those who are new here, I’m originally from Augusta, GA and began my career in finance at Ford Motor Company after graduating from Queens University of Charlotte in 2014. My time at Ford and in Michigan afforded me many opportunities, and I experienced tremendous growth – personally, spiritually, and professionally.
However, around the beginning of 2018, I’d come to the realization that finance wasn’t for me long-term and began to wonder what was next for me. Well, after assessing my top strengths, reflecting on experiences that brought me the most excitement and fulfillment, and speaking with people who worked in my fields of interest, all roads led to human resources. So in the spring of 2018, I wrote a vision for what I desired my life to look like the following year. My vision included goals and an action plan; and one of my primary goals stated, “My goal is to secure a position in Human Resources at a company in Charlotte…” Let me just tell you, intention plus action (and prayer) yields results! In June 2019, I moved to Charlotte, NC to begin a new job in human resources at Bank of America!
Some of you may be wondering, “Why Charlotte?” Well, I was first exposed to Charlotte in 2009 and fortunate enough to have the opportunity to attend college and live here for four years. I built a strong community of friends here, found an amazing church home (Elevation), and grew to love the city. Even while living in Michigan, Charlotte still felt like home. I remained connected online to Elevation and every year that I traveled home for the holidays, I made a trip to Charlotte. Charlotte is also 2.5 hours from my home town and immediate family. So for all of these reasons, Charlotte was a no brainer! The city has grown and developed so much over the past six years, and I’ve enjoyed exploring all of the city’s gems, building new relationships, attending and getting involved at my church, and being closer to my family!
Highs & Lows. I’m so grateful to be living in the reality of something I prayed for and envisioned a couple of years ago, but the past few months haven’t all been a walk in the park. Early on, I experienced significant feelings of doubt and questioned my career move. The experience of my initial job placement did not match the role description that was presented to me by my recruiter. It also didn’t provide much opportunity for me to grow and utilize my strengths. This was very frustrating and discouraging, and I battled feelings of doubt and regret. However, after weeks of prayer and seeking God for direction, I had the opportunity to sit down with my manager and candidly share my thoughts and feelings about my experience up to that point. As a result of that conversation, I was realigned to a new manager/team, and I’ve been working on one of the most exciting projects that a new HR professional could ever ask for – a joint venture dissolution and build out of a new organization within the bank!
The other low I experienced was the passing of my maternal grandmother. This was my first time losing someone close to me, and it was and has been emotionally challenging to deal with. I will share more about my experience of dealing with loss and grief in a future post. But one thing that has brought me peace and comfort is the timing of my move back down south. While living in Michigan, I typically only visited home once a year during the Christmas holiday; but living only 2.5 hours away from home has allowed me to see my family at least once each month. Given that, I was able to see and spend quality time with my grandma from June until her passing in October. She even got a chance to come visit me in Charlotte! I will forever cherish those final months with her…time that I wouldn’t have gotten had I still been in Michigan.
Well this brings me to the end of this post. If you’re new here, please drop me a comment introducing yourself. I’d love to hear from you! I’d also love to hear from anyone who’s recently experienced a major life change. Tell me…what’s been the most exciting and/or challenging thing you’ve experienced? I look forward to hearing from you! Thanks for reading, and I’ll meet you here again soon!