Well it's Thursday and I have four days left before I start my new career as Creative Director for an International Multi-Million-Dollar Corporate Coaching Company.

It's funny how, you know, I was just pining for the position - agonizing over getting it, and then when I got it, it was euphoric and it still is - but now I am counting the days prior to my start date. Hilarious really if you think about it - I have had lots of time off - more than enough - but now I feel like I am running our of time. Gee like five months isn't enough of a break? Well the pain is over and I feel really good about everything again.

I feel grand. Like any minute a rainbow might just shoot out of my ass.

Thinking = Feeling = Action = Result.

We are what we think (most of you should know this already). I have been pre-occupied with getting myself warmed up for the "future". The great thing I have realized is how much I really did hate that "other" job. How it was like dipping myself into a coating of lead each day I walked in there. How oppressive the management was and how completely barbaric their management style is and was. There are a thousand other places just as bad - most places have their bugs - but some of them make it hard to stay positive and make sure that our thinking is thinking good things - not bad things.

If we think bad things we feel bad things and then we do bad things and then we get bad results.
Toxic environments breed negative thinking and be-little the concept of reinforcing self esteem. To rule with an iron fist is an arcane practice and it can only harbor resentment and a lack of respect.

There is a high percentage of people that work for superiors that have a 60 point less IQ. This is stated as fact and it is a common challenge to have to learn to work around such hurtles.

I remember being so terrified of loosing my job, or getting in trouble, or saying the wrong thing, or maybe not doing what was expected of me. I remember constantly having to watch my back, wondering if there was a conspiracy, did I take too long for lunch, did the last project not really go the way "they" wanted it to, was there something that I did wrong, does everyone hate me?

Sure, sure I know all of this stuff is just thinking and we are what we think - or at least we can control what we think. But a toxic environment will wear down your positive nature. It will make you loose your work valued candor. Slowly your guard will rise and you will fall victim to the messages and messaging that surrounds you.

Essentially there is no way that a person can hold on that long trying to keep a faithful and positive attitude if their environment doesn't reflect it. Power is a sacred and noble chair. You can look at it two ways - is your boss the good witch of the east or the wicked witch of the west? Each one has equal power and each one chooses to use it in a certain way.

I had no idea how programmed I was. I had no idea how oppressed I was. I had no idea how miserable I was. I had no idea how afraid I was. It was almost as if I had taken on the personality of my rulers. They had changed me into a different person.

But now I have been set free. I have had the time to get myself back. To be able to center my core and look at finding a way to start to grow again as a human being. To be able to marry my career back into my life and have them work in harmony together. No longer does my life consist of a full day of nightmares and an escape route home to heal and feel better.
Now I have it all back, and then some.

Sure this is an optimistic post - one of the first in some time. There is always room for a little optimism and there should be room for a whole hell of a lot more. So if things are getting unbearable get out of what you are in. Get out before your life is over. Get out before you get so damaged that you won't be able to fix yourself.

Your life is yours and the only thing holding you prisoner is yourself (I know easier said than done). You've got kids to feed, bills to pay - but should the cost really be painful? Are you willing to spend the balance of your life in a bad place just to pay the bills? I used to think so. Ah well - the paycheck is good right?

I will end here. I could go on for hours because I guess I am getting a little of my thunder back. 12 hours of motivational life coaching can do that to you.

I don't think that earning a living has to be a painful venture - and if yours is, get out as fast as you can. Take the risks and be terrified for a few months - it will pay off in so many ways.

At least it did for me.