Diving right on into spring fever

There's just something about the sunshine just makes change feel right ☀️💐

The past few weeks have been surprisingly warm and sunny here in CO. I definitely do not remember 50s and 60s in March last winter, but your girl is here for it now. There’s something about the warm sun and reasonable temps that gets me feeling like it’s time for something new and creative. I get these urges to totally clean out our house and rearrange everything. I want to get back to filming all the little moments with my fam and putting together videos to share the joy we experience outside in this glorious weather. I want to pick up a new creative outlet - like I started watching Meghan Markle’s Netflix show and immediately had the itch to host people and fill their guest rooms with flowers and homemade bath salts. 🤣

What I don’t necessarily have the impulse to do - but what I’m most definitely doing - is looking for a new job 🤯 Back in January, I said that my time at USAFA was coming to an end soon and that I needed to figure out what was next. Well, we are officially here! I’ve made the decision to leave the DoD civilian world. I always knew I wanted to at some point, but now I’ve actually taken the leap by putting my name in for the Deferred Resignation Program. If all goes according to plan, I’ll be employed by the government until the end of September, but I can accept and start a job elsewhere before then.

The timeline to apply for the resignation program was tight - Google it, there was some drama. But I thrive under deadlines, so I immediately dove into our finances and retirement details to figure out if leaving the government was truly the right call. Sure, if I stayed in until retirement age (62), I’d make bookoodles more (very technical term) in retirement. But that’s 25 years away, and I need to prove to myself that I can do the thing outside of the government. Especially with all the recent headlines about government civilians not working hard and wasting taxpayer dollars - it’s tough to hear that narrative when I know it’s not true for myself or my colleagues. But honestly, that’s not even a factor. I’ve always wanted to challenge myself outside my comfort zone, and now I’m actually doing it. No turning back ✨

Next up…?

I spent a lot of December reflecting on what truly feels right. Where do I feel at ease? Where do I see my family spending the next few years? We kept feeling drawn toward the Southeast, and after talking it over with Jared, we decided - back to Florida we go! We want to be within a weekend drive of our families and our condo in Destin, but we’d also love a walkable city with bookstores, coffee shops, great food, artist markets, sporting events, and live music. That’s leading us toward a bigger city with Orlando currently being at the top of our list. But if you know of other spots that check these boxes, please share!

As for work? TBD. Right now, my to-do list includes:

• Apply to AI/ML jobs. I’ve revamped my resume and written a gazillion cover letters, applying to artificial intelligence and machine learning jobs - mostly remote, to keep our location flexible. I lean toward health tech, where I could analyze data to inform lifestyle decisions, but ultimately, I just want to be challenged and work on something totally different from what I’ve been doing.

• Start an EdTech company heyooo! Turns out, I’m great at building classroom demos, course websites, and hands-on coursework for higher ed. This is happening, and I’ll share more soon because building a company from the ground up is bound to be an adventure.

• Tap into my network. This is the fun but terrifying part. We all have friends and colleagues we’d recommend for a job in a heartbeat, but it’s very different to be on the other side asking for referrals. Time to set those fears aside and start having conversations. I know they’ll be worth it, but more importantly I know it’ll be fun to catch up with everyone.

The feels

My friend asked me how I felt about sending my resignation email a month ago. Here’s my response:

I feel nervous about the unknown - I've only ever worked in government. I feel stoked to try something new. I feel relieved to have made a decision. And I feel proud of myself for taking this risk.

That all still stands. But I also really enjoy my current job. Working at USAFA has been an experience that far exceeded any of my wildest expectations. My coworkers are brilliant, dedicated people who care deeply about the cadets. And the cadets? They’re so fun - teaching and mentoring them has truly been a privilege I do not take lightly. Not only that, but they come hang out in my office between classes, drink coffee with me, and make sure I stay up to date on trendy phrases (apparently slay is out?). Needless to say, leaving will be tough.

At the end of the day though, this move feels right.

As I said in January: it’s time to embrace the uncertainty, trust my intuition, and move forward with the same courage that brought me here in the first place. And that’s exactly what I’m doing.

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