EMBRACING CHANGE

Moving forward. Leaving the past behind. Taking the steps necessary to make way for something new. Such was the day today.

My phone rang as I was still at home finishing breakfast on the balcony, having already checked my work emails. She was asking if I was already at work. I let my boss know I would be in soon.

When I arrived, she was already in her office tossing things which hadn’t seen the light of day for years, dust and dog hairs flying everywhere. In fact, she hadn’t used the office in the past three years as she worked from home. A ranch home located three hours away. Complete with horses, cows, and chickens.

The office was filled with many years’ worth of paperwork and everything else people end up accumulating over the course of their work lives. Including a dog bed. At one point, my boss and I looked up to notice the sales manager standing in front of the door donned from head to toe in a white hazmat suit and gloves. It was meant to lighten the mood, which worked, as we all laughed.

The salespeople were enlisted to assist in taking out large orange plastic containers full of stuff to be disposed of in the bin outside. We cleaned for about an hour and a half before lunchtime and I was invited to join the six others who were going to eat lunch at a Japanese restaurant. My boss’ dog stayed behind in the office on his dog bed, with the doors closed.

After we returned to the office, we continued cleaning for another hour and a half. Several boxes, full of items to keep, were then put in the back of the pickup truck so my boss could set off on the long drive home.

The remainder of the day was spent finishing up the basic set up, with my requesting that all furniture be removed except for the two tables, a bookcase, and one tall filing cabinet. I then washed the tables and filing cabinet before the sales manager vacuumed the now-visible blue carpeted floors. Tomorrow he is bringing in his steam cleaner to finish cleaning the floors.

Having never had an office to myself, other than a cubicle for short periods of time, I never had the opportunity to imagine what it would be like to have one. Especially one with two walls of windows. It will certainly be more comfortable than the open area where I sat at a temporary table since the end of last year.

To make way for something new, we must often learn to let go of something old. Things which no longer serve us a purpose. We should also be patient as we embrace that change and as we look onwards to new experiences.