I was in the office on the first day of my detail and wore a white blouse I had bought the previous weekend. Nothing like wearing something new on your first day with a new team, to give yourself a confidence boost, right?

Yeah, until halfway through the day, when you look in the mirror and realize the blouse is basically see-through in the back. And not that much better in the front.

Oops.

Luckily, it was a Monday, and Mondays are quiet in my office – my branch and team weren’t even in that day. Phew. (But a few other people were!)

And I definitely remembered to wear something under the shirt today.

I’m also trying something new today – one of those bun maker do-dads for my hair. I always wear my hair back, usually in some messy bun/knot thing. At least this looks less crazy than usual!

I’m already in the fourth week of my detail! It’s flying by and the dread of going back to my old position* is creeping in just a little bit, but I’m trying to ignore it and enjoy what I’m doing now.

The work I did before was design and external client based, and the work I’m doing now is data and internal client based, which suits my interests** much better. I am also the team leader in this detail, overseeing four people.

I’d been feeling stagnant in my old position for years, and more recently, was really disliking some of the new work we did (which I was vocal about)***. A few times, I’d mentioned to my boss that I was itching to learn something new, and had planned to ask if I could go on a detail about a month after my teammate came back from maternity leave. But, my boss ended up offering me this detail (to the first team I would have asked about!) before I even asked! I immediately said yes, and was so excited about it (and busy with my old position and getting ready for the new one) that I didn’t even take the time to be nervous about the fact that I was going to be on a new team, and in my first time in a leadership position.

I felt happy at work, that day, for the first time in a looooooong time. And it felt so good.****

There’s been a learning curve (duh) on the new team, and there’s been stress, but overall, my mood is much better. And I feel like I’m fitting in with my new branch and team well, and connecting with people.

So I am going to enjoy it now for what it is! When I go back to my old position, I can be grateful I got to do something different for a while.

*I am on a four month loan to another team. When it’s over, I have to go back to my old team. For me to stay on the team I am detailing in, my detail has to be extended. And to be permanently placed on the new team, the job position has to become open, and I have to compete for it against other applicants.
**So what if I am good at what I was doing before if I didn’t enjoy it at all?!
***And there’s more to it that I’ll leave off here.
****Even though I was anxious that this detail wouldn’t happen – I had tried to do two before this one that were both canceled!!!