diva: [def] a female version of a hustla...

my blogs are oftentimes borne out of weird, hodgepodge, and otherwise unrelated places....swirling around in my head, they spin into an 'aha!' moment...my fingers start to itch...and i gotta write-write-write! elements of this blog have been swirling since last Friday night, and i finally got enough material to sit down and get it out.



so, here i go.



today is my Sorority's Founders' Day. 101 years ago today, our organization was founded on the campus of Howard University in Washington, DC., yadda yadda yadda. we celebrated our 100- year milestone in grand fashion this past summer, so this is nice icing to a year past of reflection. anyway, to my point. last week, a friend and i were talking about sororities and she called me a 'sorority chick.' she was saying it in jest, so i laughed, but was like 'naw, homie. ' just happen to be a chick who's IN a sorority. it got me to thinking about labels/definitions/categories that, not only others put us in, but we also put ourselves in.



so a blog was conceived...but not yet borne.



then yesterday, my company laid off 16 ppl in our Regional Office. for an office of less than 100 ppl, 16 ppl is a LOT of ppl. many of these ppl had worked their WHOLE careers--25+ years at my company--so as you can imagine, they are in a state of shock as this is all...and i mean ALL..that they're ever known, from a work perspective. and, that isn't to be taken lightly, when, we all know that we spend more time at work with our 'work families' then we do with the biologicals families that we're trying to feed, picking that Cotton each and everyday.



so, here we are today.



whether we want to admit it or not, so much of how we and others define ourselves, is tied up in what we DO. we all know the script when we meet someone at a networking or social event. after initial pleasantries are exchanged, one of the first things we ask is 'what do you do?' we wax poetic about our jobs...and for someone like me, inevitably after i tell someone i'm an underwriter, they ask "what the heck is that?" (not in those exact words, but you get my point, LOL).



so, as our jobs become such a part of our identities (among all of the other roles that we play), you can imagine how gut-wrenching it must feel when that is snatched away from you. sure, the monetary blow is certainly an issue--the main issue--as you try to figure out how you will get by until you find something else. along with that, what about that loss of identity? working your butt off for 5, 10, 15 years for a company and then being shown the door, with a 30 or 60-day consolation prize, otherwise known as a severance package.

a sororfriend of mine got laid off some years ago, went into business for herself for a while, and is now in between careers trying to figure out her next move. she told me that one of the hardest questions she has to answer is when she's at work or personal functions with her husband, and ppl ask her 'so, what do YOU do?' whether it's forced/a decision/or some combination of the two, being 'in-between jobs' can certainly be a blow to one's ego and one's spirit.

as millions of ppl around the country recieve that news that no one wants to hear, and are forced to pack their boxes and head to the unemployment line, i hope that we will all continue to live our lives with a constant Attitude of Gratitude--being grateful for the big AND the small things...looking forward to the future with hope, and constantly reminding ourselves of WHO we are...and WHOSE we are, even in the midst of tremendous uncertainty.