It’s Official

It seems that you guys really agreed with my pet peeves yesterday, and I loved hearing all the reasons why you’re annoying.

I think admitting that we’re annoying automatically makes us less annoying. It’s the worst when people are super annoying and have no idea.

However, even though yesterday was a day of extreme annoyance, it also turned out to be one of the best days I’ve had in a really long time.

After nearly two months of waiting for an answer, my job finally agreed to let me move to D.C.!!

(That’s my happy face.)

I haven’t really gone into the specifics of the job/move situation because it was really complicated and touchy for awhile, but now things are settling down and I can fill you in!

My company does a lot of business in D.C. and used to have an office out there, which was what kind of gave me the initial idea to move there. Professionally, it’s just the best city I can live in right now.

So after I’d thought about it and determined that I was serious about the idea, I approached my supervisor.

I told him that I was extremely grateful for all the opportunities I’d been given and that I was finally started to feel like I had a future in my field, but that I knew I wouldn’t be happy working and living in Oklahoma forever.

It’s always been my desire to get out on my own at least once, and I knew it was now or never. I told them that I planned to move to D.C. this summer – and while it was my wish to stay with the company I was going whether they could keep me on the payroll or not.

It was a ballsy move, and it took everyone by surprise. At first, there was a lot of opposition. I think they all thought I was pretty audacious to make that demand at such a young age.

Eventually however, they started to come around. They had me present a business plan of how my move could benefit the company and do a mock presentation showcasing my skills at marketing our company to government clients in D.C.

This all went down in February, and it was extremely tense and stressful, but I completed the tasks they asked of me and settled in to wait on their decision.

Everyone was very receptive, but our lease at the D.C. office had expired and they weren’t too keen on the idea of me working from home while they tried to find new office space.

I think they thought I would forget about the idea eventually, and it was kind of swept under the rug.

There were times when I just wanted to give up because it seemed like it was never going to happen, but I continued to stand my ground.

So I waited… and waited… and waited some more.

I knew I had a trip coming up (this weekend) where I had planned to just find an apartment. However, since I wasn’t getting any feedback I started looking for back-up jobs.

My mind was made up, and no one was going to keep me from accomplishing what I’d set out to do.

I got a really great response from several companies in D.C. and felt really good about setting up a couple of interviews.

However, the whole time I felt incredibly uneasy and guilty about doing all of that without my company’s knowledge.

Of course, I have no obligation to stay with them and it was totally within my rights to search for other jobs – but it still felt kind of icky.

Then, yesterday, I finally got word that they were giving me the green light. It was such a relief!

I’m not 100% sure what will happen yet, things could always go another way, but a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders.

Now I know I get to move to D.C. – no matter what.

If I stay with my company, I get to pick when I move, which is epic because not knowing the move date has been the major cause of my stress during all of this.

Another great perk is that when I want to visit my family, I’d be able to come to Oklahoma for longer periods of time because I can just work from our office here and not have to take vacation.

It’s kind of tacky to talk about money, but I will say that the situation would work out pretty well financially and would allow me to be able to live comfortably despite the higher cost of living.

It’s really about the best situation I could have hoped for.

The only drawback to not taking a different job would be that I’d work from home for the first few months – limiting my ability to meet new people.

I think I can do that on my own though, and regardless of what happens I finally feel like I’m back in the driver seat! I’m so excited to go this weekend and look at apartments and start getting to know my future city!

When I first started this whole process it seemed so far out of reach – but it really goes to show that if you want something you can’t be afraid to go for it. As long as you stick to your guns and don’t let the opposition get you down, you can do anything you want.

Oh, and if you live in D.C. and want to be my friend I’ll love you forever. I like coffee, running, wine, eating, talking about coffee/running/wine/eating and long walks on the beach ;)

What was the last big risk you took? How did it work out?