I work for a Fortune 500 company in Human Resources. If any of my fellow Ammy’s work in HR (especially in a factory setting) you know how demanding it can be: irregular hours, challenging situations, demanding timelines. It is exciting and exhausting at the same time. Some days I love it, some days I pull out strings of my hair and tie them in knots in some sick, strange, self-soothing tick I have developed. Thankfully, the location I work with is great and understands my needs to balance my personal and professional life. Twice a week, I roll in at a frighteningly early 6:00AM to allow for additional training and HR coverage and while that sucks early in the morning (I live an hour east from work, so I get to wake up at 4:30AM in order to make it on time), I don’t mind it so much when I roll out at 3:00PM and make the one hour commute north to the barn for pony time.
However, after a particularly frustrating day at the office, there was an offer for my dream come true - an opportunity to work at the barn. I practically skipped home with excitement in my heart, I could literally play with ponies all day and do what I love most! What in the heck could be wrong with that? Well…..let me tell you what is wrong with that - the pay cut. The quite noticeable pay cut. If you have followed my guest blogs, you may remember that my husband is a farmer and if you know anything about the agricultural industry, you know that row |
We talked, seriously, about the opportunity for me to get to do what I love as a career, but it all led to the same conclusion: making my passion a career would inevitably lead to the end of my personal, competitive career. The spare funds for boarding a horse, training, showing, SmartPak’s, farrier work, vet work, show clothing, etc would be all but gone. My truck, which I purchased in order to pull a trailer, would have to make way for a smaller, more gas friendly vehicle. Our insurance? Yeahhh we get that from my employer. It became a sad reality that as much as I wanted this, at this point in our lives we just couldn’t do it. Sweet, sweet Wayne tried to twist every single budget to make it work, but ultimately it was my decision. As long as Wayne is farming, I need my job. It is reliable and has room for opportunity. It provides for us and for Joey and all his needs (trust me- OTTB’s have a lot of needs).
Stay strong, it isn’t going to be easy but it will definitely be worth it!