Bittersweet

Today, I got a promotion at work that I've been working toward for a long time. Starting Monday, I'm going to be a Team Lead – actually the Team Lead of the very team with which I started. I will be above my old supervisor, who I credit for helping in a huge way to get me to where I am now. It's not a final destination by any means (rather, a step along the way), but it is a very important milestone that I had to reach in order to continue to move forward. This, combined with the beginning of graduate school in August, makes things pretty exciting in my life right now.

That said, leaving my HelpLine team is going to be really hard. It's bittersweet in the worst way. I have said to many people that this wasn't like other promotions. This time, my heart kind of sank. I grew to truly love the team and look forward to their company, especially as I and others worked to create a more positive culture. I made some good friends and grew in many ways. I'm going to miss everyone and everything, including the work. I loved doing research, and I loved E-Messaging. Maybe one day I'll have my own E-Messaging team, but for now I'm out of the picture, and that kind of sucks. But the positives of moving to a Team Lead position far outweigh the negatives. Sure, I'm going to have to give up some of the things I love to do, but I'm going to have a greater sphere of influence, gain management experience, enjoy health benefits, and hone my people skills. I will also get to take "Sup Sup" calls, which means I get to be the last line of defense against doubly irate participants (if a participant doesn't like what a PSR has to say, he'll ask for a supervisor; if he doesn't like what the Tier II Specialist [my old position] has to say, he'll ask for another supervisor, and that's where I come in).

There's less nervousness for starting the new position and more sadness for leaving my current one. I really don't know what more to say other than I'm just really going to miss it. But like I said in the meeting today, this is necessary. Sometimes you have to cut against the grain to get to something sweeter.

And tonight, I entertained the thought of having a bowl of ice cream to celebrate. But it was easy to resist. I'm not losing weight, but I love that. I've changed.