icebreaker

I really thought I was going to get to march triumphant back into posting in September, clutching a new job the way a child half strangles their first fuzzy pet. I got through three interviews and checks on all my references, an extra week of waiting because the hiring manager had a funeral, only to be told they were going with the other candidate.

They could/wouldn't give any feedback for anything I could do better.

It took four weeks and a handful of job applications that didn't even lead to a first interview to pull myself out of a depression pit.

Got a couple of interviews for a job with HR, someone important reached out to them on my behalf (my one and only attempt at networking), they weren't interested in my references, they picked someone else. They also could/wouldn't give any feedback on any part of the process I could tweak to do better next time.

I figured that was really my one shot and I still couldn't get over the finish line.

Did an interview with a job I didn't want and the red flags were everywhere. I worried about making a choice to exchange one hell for another. I don't even know why. They kicked me out of the hiring pool with a form letter.

I wallowed for another several weeks.

I am now mostly getting up before noon, I'm on a 13 day walking streak, and I have three buckets of protein under the sink to use with the shiny new blender Santa gave me for fruity smoothies.

2026 is looking up?