Strength

On numerous occasions I may have quietly mentioned (alright, have a bitch fest to whatever hapless friend or family member accidently calls me on my commute home) about the demands of my new job.  When I left my old job I seemed to be under the delusion that despite getting a 50% pay bump I would only be required to give an extra 10-15% of effort.  Ha!

I am working harder than I have ever worked in my life.  There was about a 2 month stretch, and at least one day a week where I come home close to tears and the only thing that cheered (s) me up is watching Ari race around the apartment like he's training for Olympic sprints and watching Modern Family with Honey Badger while we make dinner (okay, he makes dinner, when its my turn I pick up take out cause the idea of cooking pushes me closer to the tears).

I'm a lot stressed out.

In part due to the high visibility from all levels of my organization and that every detail that goes missed-gets caught...and its always made evident who missed the detail.

I was distressed by even more scrutiny a month or so ago while prepping a presentation for a client.  I put in tons of hours, edited at least eight "final" versions of the presentation, and the night I flew into the clients headquarters, walked to my boss's hotel to work on the project "just a little more".

5 hours later it was go time.

The presentation went well, I was pleased.  Afterwards, I was standing in the lobby with my department's director and numerous other "key stakeholders" (Read:  Higher up the rung than I) with my suitcase ready to hop a cab to catch a flight back to the airport.

When the cab arrived, I was the first to march out the door, and my suitcase caught on the edge.

I yanked.

And the first thing I heard was a gasp.

Then I saw what I'd done.

My suitcase had caught on the door frame, and when I had yanked...I yanked out the frame.

It hung there suspended for a moment or so, with everyone staring.  And then, it crashed to the ground.  And bounced.

Security raced over, I stood there horrified, and my Director burst out laughing saying, "Jenna's the new secret weapon."

Apparently I'm stronger than I give myself credit for.