But from something the cousin sent today, another cousin responded, and this other cousin then added me to her mailing list and I received a PowerPoint presentation which had this on one of the slides:

“The only reason that anyone would ever hate you, is because they want to be just like you.”

Wow …

Can that be true?

I think back to those years I spent at my last place of employment. So that was why she put me down? Cuz she wanted to be like me? No, actually it was cuz she saw me as a threat. Unfortunately, she was in a position to neutralise that perceived threat. By putting me down.

The darn thing was I let her. I finally woke up one day and stopped letting her. I said “I resign”. Or rather, I submitted my resignation letter. And then, months later, realised the only reason I didn’t resign, the reason I put up with the “putting down” was cuz it was paying my medical bills but then it was also making me ill.

In fact, I had a lupus flare about six weeks before I put in my resignation letter, which showed on my skin.

A year or so later, I realised I’ve not had a flare since I left the corporate world.

So I did the right thing to resign. So what if I have to pay my own medical bills now? I’m enjoying far better health than when I was working cuz my medical bills were being paid by someone else. And I stopped allowing myself to be “put down”.

But the fact that it came to mind when I read that PPT slide shows that it still bugs me that I wasted about 10 years of my life …

*speechless*

Lyn: hey chet gotta go finish up some work
me: ok, nice chatting with you
Lyn: planning to leave offce by 530
me: I’m already home
Lyn: rub it in…
me: no traffic jam
Lyn: yah yah
me: well, there are disadvantages, too. tell you another time

Disadvantages??

Some days, I’m the only human I see. Which is not good. And working from home means the comforts of home are nearby, and very tempting sometimes!

But mostly, the advantages out-weigh the disadvantages.

And when I get tired of my own company, I grab my things and go somewhere where there are people, lots of people. Somewhere like the IKEA Cafe, or Starbucks …

I was actually planning to convert my shares to the new company’s (a merged entity comprising three companies). The exchange exercise was supposed to be around this time, and I have been waiting to receive the forms to do the necessary. Then my sister called to say our remisier had called to tell her about the exchange exercise and had recommended that I sell the shares, especially since the deadline is the 17th and it’s a long weekend and I still haven’t received the forms and I may end up missing the deadline, etc. So I said okay, ask the remisier what I need to do to sell my shares.

Apparently, nothing. Cuz yesterday evening, when I saw my sister, she said my shares had already been sold.

I’d actually wanted to keep the shares into the new company for sentimental reasons. I’ve owned them for almost as long as I’ve worked in the company. Through the years, looking at the shares’ wild swings between high-high and low-low, I’d sometimes lamented not selling when the price was good, but my sister would scold me and say this particular company’s shares is to keep, not sell. But since it’s not going to be the same company for too long, now seemed to be a good time to sell, especially as the price is right.

And it’s true what they say about doors. New doors have opened even before the old door officially closed.

—————-

*chat with R, my resignation letter writing coach*

Now that I’m stopping work …

You’re not stopping work!

Oh yah, I’ll have lots more work to keep me occupied from now on.

Meanwhile, a little R&R. And … hey, I can watch Ellen in the afternoons!

He frowned, cupped his hands over his ears and replied “I didn’t hear that.”

I repeated the same exact sentence.

“Are you leaving the Group or the building?”

Haha, very funny, ARR. Leaving the Group.

I left the building recently to work on a project in a different office across town, but now I’m back. For a short while, as it turned out.