8 Minutes of Solace

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8 Minutes of Solace

In one of my first jobs after my bachelors program, I went to work for Fidelity Investments on a gorgeous campus in Merrimack, NH. I was a Tax Exempt Customer Service Representative in a call center cubicle farm the size of two football fields. I’ll never forget my experience working there.

First, let me just say, Fidelity was an amazing employer. (Spoiler alert, I quit 6ish months later). The people I worked with at that company were amazing, and I can’t believe the talent of the HR team in bringing in so many amazing humans to work together in one place.

I went through the Investments 101 crash course to learn exactly how little I knew about money, and several weeks later hit the phones to process transactions on retirement accounts.

Despite all the amazing things about Fidelity, the call center life was NOT my jam. I tried to love the job and was actually talented on the phones, but I longed to get outside. In fact, I wanted outside so much, I picked up the habit of “smoke breaks” — to clarify, I do NOT smoke. 

We took our two 15 minute breaks in waves, and I learned to latch onto the smokers to find the quickest way out of the immense building to the glorious New Hampshire summer on that wonderfully landscaped campus.

I had only 8 minutes of solace, as the trek outside required 3.5 minutes one way to traverse the cube farm, long hallways, and elevator to get outside from my cubicle.

The facility had a balcony overlooking a duck pond, and pond side picnic tables where I would always take my 30 minute lunch break. I remember navigating around the mean gaggle of resident Canadian Geese, and sometimes getting run down by the geese near those tables.

On the balcony I could watch the American Goldfinches as they sang “potato chip” flying dippily over the pond. 

I remember on walks hearing and occasionally spotting an elusive Catbird in the shrubbery along the walking path to the pond. I remember seeing the occasional Ruby Throated Hummingbird feasting on columbine near the building flower beds, and once saw a hawk hunting from a low tree over the trail. 

We were often warned about the hungry bear that would feast on berries of the landscaping outside the building, and told not to go outside… that always killed me because I wanted to see the bear (from a safe distance).

I was truly contemplating asking my boss if I could transfer within Fidelity… to the landscaping crew. 

At the time, I totally feared what my colleagues would think of me if they caught me outside in cargo pants and a utility belt rather than in my cute White House Black Market attire with heels.

A decade later, I realize my gut was right. In hindsight, my choices led me to where I am, as the Avett Brothers song goes “all my mistakes brought me to you”.

When the weather got colder, I ended up quitting. New Hampshire winters were tough on me, but being forced to stay indoors drove me to make some pretty crazy career decisions that year. I asked my boss what the promotion potential was, receiving an answer I didn’t like and thereafter resigned.

I did a complete 180 and found work on a farm, in a nonprofit vocation training program for special needs adults, and later began a masters program and started working for a heavenly plant nursery.

My new career in “careers” was the catalyst for my enormous success a decade later, and how I began accumulating expertise in recruitment and career coaching. 

The birds and the bears of the Fidelity campus were my golden ticket to the life I have today thanks to my 8 minute spurts outside. The stark contrast of my conflicting desires for career success and connecting with nature was so prominent that I knew, like a slap in the face, that my life was out of alignment.

Admittedly, I’ve maintained this struggle since leaving New Hampshire and becoming a military spouse in Colorado where I had to take leave without pay to attend the CSU Extension Master Gardener program.

More to come on my story of becoming a military spouse, that's a whole adventure on it's own!