New Year, New Job!

Happy New Year everyone! I hope you had a great and safe start to your 2022 and are excited for the year ahead. I know I am so I wanted to hop on here to share the good news.

I just completed my first week as an employee of *drumroll please* Expedia Group! I'm so excited to start this new career journey but I was definitely going through it leading up to this day so here's a little backstory for anyone who needs to hear it.

You all may or may not remember that I currently live in Tampa Bay and have been here for the past 2.5 years. Although Tampa has a lot to do and the beach is nice, I really wanted to move back home to ATL to be near my family and friends. I've always been super family-oriented so I knew pretty early on that I was not going to stay in Tampa long term. However, going through this pandemic expedited the desire a lot. I had the chance to spend the first few months of lockdown working from my mother's home and remember standing in the airport bathroom crying when it was time for me to come back to Florida. In fact, I felt significantly worse than I did when I left for college. So I came back with more of a mental timeline and started looking for potential transfers through my last job.

Because Atlanta was a competitive market that everyone wanted to get into, the opportunities were pretty hard to come by. I was so mad at myself at one point because I let an opportunity pass me by because it didn't coordinate with my lease and immediately regretted it but it was too late. After that, nothing came up for months. During this time, I was going through all the emotions. I felt lonely, confused as to why I wasn't happy when I was in what felt like the perfect position (esp. financially) for a recent college grad, concerned about potential financial problems that could arise from me leaving my job, unsure of what career path would even make me feel better, unmotivated because I felt like nothing was working out the way I needed it to anyway, frustrated because I'm pretty sure my faith wasn't even the size of a mustard seed, and the list goes on. In full transparency, I cried...a lot.

I hadn't completely lost my desire to move but at some point the urgency had settled down. I was in the mindset that I would just wait however long it took for another transfer opportunity or if I got to a point where I couldn't take it anymore, I would have to leave and just hope for the best. The way I overthink, potentially quitting without a plan stressed me all the way out but, esp. experiencing this pandemic alone, my mental health felt like it was on a steady decline so I was pretty sure that at some point, desperation would kick in.

But the urgency in my desire to move back to ATL came rushing back after my mom and I got into a major car accident in September 2021. As a result of the car accident, the person who hit us passed away, I got severe driving anxiety, and my mom got a broken collar bone. I was so happy I was already in Georgia to know what was going on and that my mom was okay. But the thought of having to get a major call about something like that happening to my mom while being 7 hours away is hard. And the thought of going through something major myself down here in Florida while all of my family is so far away is anxiety-inducing. At that moment, the pressure was really on to move back immediately.

They always say have faith in God's plan and His timing for your life but I can't lie, I was struggling! My plans to transfer were falling through and I wasn't confident about my career moving forward. But as you all know, travel is bae so through it all, one thing I'll always do is plan a trip! So one day, I was on Expedia's website looking into hotels for a trip this year and, out of curiosity, checked their career site. They had a role listed in Atlanta that was similar to what I already do so I applied immediately! God really showed out because everything worked out perfectly. Here I am able to move back to Atlanta to work for a company that directly aligns with my passions and I couldn't be more excited! And because it's also a product I actively use, the employee benefits will come in handy as I plan future trips. Ooooh yeeeaaahhhh!

So far, everyone on my team seems really nice and I think I will enjoy my role. The office is in a great area considering I'm supposed to do a better job of exploring the city of Atlanta as an adult. And ironically, it's in the same building as one of my internships in 2017 (full-circle moment). Employee benefits are fabulous. And the best part is, I'll once again be close to my family and friends! If I remember, I'll try to do a 90-day check-in to share how everything is going but so far, so good! 2022 will be a good year for me mentally, claiming it!