Annual Review

My annual review was scheduled for yesterday morning after the monthly Board meeting. I didn't find out that the Board President had a meeting and would need to push my review back to next month until the meeting started. Super annoying... and really disrespectful. J wanted me to argue with him or to say something. But I'm not going to and here's why.

For 9 months out of the year, I have complete flexibility. Sometimes I don't get to work until 10am. Sometimes I leave work at 2pm. Sometimes I arrive at 10 and leave at 2. When it gets too cold, or when putting on jeans and trudging the 7 miles into the office is just too much, I work from home- cuddled under a blanket on my couch in my pajamas with my laptop and a snack. The other 3 months is busy and exhausting, but the majority of my to-do list includes things like, "make jello, throw jello at kids, go swimming to wash off" or "go to campfire, eat s'mores, sing songs."

Even more important to me than the flexibility is the creative control I have. I have changed every single detail about this camp (and now that we are beginning our Capital Campaign, I'm even changing the layout of the camp). I run things by the Board and even ask permission sometimes, but mostly, I can do anything I want (which is how we ended up with "pirates and ninjas week" for next summer). I love being able to just let my imagination run wild.

These things, the fact that I make a great living, my dog comes to work with me every day and other than once a month when I have to grit my teeth and deal with a clueless Board (who are actually incredibly supportive, compliment me a lot and couldn't be nicer- they are just a bit out of touch with what it actually takes to run a camp), 99% of the time, I love every minute of my job.

I don't believe there is a perfect job that is never annoying or frustrating or stressful. I think the key is finding a job that is fabulous a larger percent of the time than it is annoying. And so, my 99% awesomeness ratio is probably the best I can possibly do. And I am very appreciative of that. So my review getting pushed back is something I can ignore. It's not like I can threaten to go get a better job with more flexibility, more creative control, or that's more fun.

And really, sometimes these little annoyances make me stop and consider the situation and in the end, I feel more appreciative of my situation than ever before. Even a really awesome review and a raise wouldn't have necessarily done that....