You are not alone

The feeling of being included in a group is something we take for granted from an early age.Whether it is the security of being part of a family or classroom, being part of a community brings comfort. When you grow up and get into the world of work, there is nothing like a boss-bashing session to foster brotherhood among fellow-sufferers. The knowledge that you will see your coworkers each day as you enter your office, the easy camaraderie at the coffee machine, the lunchtime gossiping is as familiar a routine as brushing your teeth in the morning. When you leave your job, you have to leave all this behind. And that is scary. Lonely too.

I had always been engaged in gainful movement through my life – college, graduate studies, job number 1, job number 2, home, kid and all the good stuff. When I quit my job, what I missed most was the social interactions. I had no one to complain to, no one to seek an opinion on the latest movie or ask for directions to a new restaurant in town. I had to book my travel, call the cab, work on the assignments and send my invoices. No administrative help. No one else.

But it does not always stay that way. Your work, any work, involves people. Okay, so they are not employed by the same company. They may be clients, business prospects, vendors, students, courier guys. And you still have your current friends, past colleagues and a horde of new as yet “unmet” people to befriend. It is an adventure to figure out every day, who will I meet today? Not all people are professional nor are all interactions pleasant. There are times when you sorely wish you could walk over to the guy in the cubicle next to you for a second opinion. This is when you need to be creative. What you need to cultivate is a set of friends in the “phone a friend” category. Typically one person may not fit the bill for all possible conversations. Sometimes they are not available. So you need to have backups. And before you know it, you have an impromptu Board of Directors on call. Your support system, your secret team. How great is that! There is only one caveat – by setting up this system, you are automatically enrolled into their teams as well. So stay tuned, you never know when they might call.