With a new job, what does that mean for this blog? Well I'll tell you!
Hi there. Remember me? Dog obsessed travel PT? Well life sure has taken a turn...one that I did not see coming. A few things have changed around here. Travel PT? Ya, not so much anymore, but I am certainly still a PT. Dog obsessed? Definitely, I just took Rusty to see Santa so you know that has not changed. Traveling? Well, not YET. But you bet once I rack up some PTO days, I will be off adventuring somewhere.
So I know it's been a while since I've written out anything on here. Three months to be exact. And since my last post was nearing the end of my travel job contract in Massachusetts, I was a little busy in the search for my next travel job. Now, as most of you know and as I have already mentioned, I did not take another travel contract job. That was my plan, but we all know the best laid plans rarely work out how we want. And since my job was basically the source of allowing me to achieve such grand adventures, I felt like I no longer had any "substance" to write about. I also felt like I somehow would be a fraud if I continued to write about traveling with a dog and such, if I myself was hardly doing that. But, then I thought...who cares? Like really....WHO CARES. I'm laughing as I write this because there are literally no rules to this little page of mine and yet I acted like there was. Sure my job location has changed, but I still have the same passions I had before. And it was my passions that fueled this little page of mine anyway! So, the posts may be fewer around here, but they will still be coming!
Now you are probably wondering: so what happened that made you stop travel therapy. The company? The lifestyle? The job search?
No, no, and no. I can't say enough good things about the company I worked for. My recruiter especially. Telling her my decision to stop travel PT was honestly the hardest part! She was so great and understanding, but I am honestly still bummed I don't get to work with her anymore. It was definitely not something I anticipated having to do so soon. My plan was to do travel therapy for about 2 years, not 3 months. I had already semi-planned out the next 2-3 states I wanted to work in and the time of year it would occur at. And back home in Missouri was the next state on my list since it would be for the holiday season because I knew I did not want to be far from home during it.
After about a week of job searching, I got a call for a travel job opportunity in Missouri. I had the phone interview and the guy answered the phone saying "I'm in Taco Bell, so if you hear a number called, it's mine" - and that's when I knew I could work for this guy (kidding, but kind of not kidding). Now the travel therapy world moves fast, they would need my answer for the job by the next day. But little did I know, I would have a phone interview with a PERMANENT JOB back home that very same day a little later. No, I did not go searching for it either. Now this is only something I can reason with as being a complete and amazing plan from God. Obviously I took the permanent job - hence the reason behind this whole post. But never in my life have I felt like I was at such a crossroads!
That phone interview came about that day after receiving a text from the therapy director herself simply asking me if I had every thought about coming back to work there (I was a student PT there 1.5 years ago for 6 weeks). The conversation went further to say that she remembered me as an excellent student clinician, my previous Clinical Instructor (who still works there) highly recommended me for the job, and that the CEO was on board with pursuing me after remembering my name was mentioned by a patient for exceptional care during a survey when I was a student.
(Please forgive me for this huge humble brag haha, 1. its my page, and 2. it adds to the story and the reason for my decision)
Now at this point I was so conflicted. Because I honestly loved that job, co-workers, and environment when I was a student. But I also really loved the spontaneity of a travel job with new locations and people. Now remember how I said that travel job wanted a decision within one day? Well, permanent jobs don't work like that. They had wanted to follow up with an in-person interview after the phone interview I had. Now, I did NOT have time for that. I had one day and I was 1,000 miles away. So I did what any non-assertive person would do...and got assertive hahah. I had to know how serious this permanent job was about me before I just go passing up a travel job. So I point blank said I need to know WITHIN ONE DAY if they either wanted me or not. And well what do you know, within one day I was on the phone with HR accepting a verbal offer.
Now looking back, this seemed like the hardest decision to make. Why? Because of the travel and pay benefits that come along with travel PT. But the benefits of coming HOME to Missouri to a permanent job? Well we might be here all day trying to write those out. And there is nothing that can explain the perfect timing of the phone calls and the interviews than to know that God had a perfect plan for me that I did not even realize was possible.
So here I am, in Missouri. Which only means that I need to start scoping out the good old Midwest for all its glory. So stay tuned for more to come!! Thanks for sticking with us!
Shawna + Rusty
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