vivian gietz

Hey!

You didn’t think I forgot about my blog, did you?

Yeah, I know what I said about updating more. Yeah, I know it’s been like a month and a half. Honestly, I thought about updating almost every day for the past few weeks, I just never got around to it. Or something would start to happen that would take a few days to play out and then I’d think, I guess I should see how this pans out before writing it down.

And wow, friends, did life ever happen in the past months and a half.

Here’s a comprehensive, but not necessarily chronological list of the most noteworthy things that have happened to me since my last post:

• I realized that the sales job was, to put it frankly, absolute bullshit, doing a multitude of morally questionable things to their employees, and making me constantly exhausted and completely miserable. I quit.
• I met two new friends through the sales job, both of who also quit slightly before I did, young women like myself I am proud to have met. I went for coffee with one, dinner with another, and dinner with the first one again.
• Before quitting I aligned another part time job as a barista, with nearly full time hours. I started said job, and genuinely enjoyed it.
• I started planning how to actually do freelance writing to make a little more necessary money, doing genuine research for freelance writing, and sending out a few actual pitches.
• I had a scare with my teeth, and throat which were in pain. For a couple days I genuinely thought I had some deadly mouth disease, and was terrified, poor, and without dental coverage. I went to a walk-in clinic. I did not have a mouth disease, or anything urgent, other than a couple small cavities that I should probably get filled soon.
• Back in Alberta, my mother was admitted to the hospital with a rare nervous system disease. Unable to get much information other than what my older sister communicated to me (my parents are terrible at communication), I was briefly panicked, but a few days and tears later, she was receiving treatment, and on the road to recovery.
• I killed three house plants. Maybe I should give up on owning plants. They don’t deserve this.
• I sent out Valentines cards and letters to many friends and family members. On Valentine’s Day, of course, I attended Ash Wednesday mass, got sushi take-out on the way home after, and was asked about the ash cross on my forehead by the waitress who sold me sushi. Lent is my favorite liturgical season, friends. It fills my heart with so much peace.
• I saw Lorde, one of my absolute favorite musical artists, in concert for the first time a couple days ago.
• Last, and perhaps most importantly: I interviewed for, was hired at, and had my first day yesterday as an Administrative Assistant at IC-IMPACTS, a company which does research and development for outreach and social justice work, primarily between India and Canada. Which is, yes, literally exactly what I wanted. I might be a lowly admin, but I get to make a difference with my writing, editing, and communications skills.

You know what’s the funniest thing, though? Only when I truly settled, when I was 100% okay with my customer service job, the barista position, and genuinely motivating myself to do the freelance writing research in my spare time, did I find this position. Only when I was joyful enough to stop worrying did I find even more joy.

I’ve learned to always seek joy, comfort, and security in Christ first, and in things like finances and permanence second. And the second will follow, with time and trust. Love and God is always the way to the desires of the heart. I interviewed for probably close to a hundred administrative, social media, and writing related jobs in the past year. Only a handful of them were anything close to social justice related. What were the odds that this would be the one?

I get to live comfortably now, and make plans for things that cost more money and aren’t essentials, like buying a microwave and getting a new tattoo. Yes, I have been living for the past five months since I moved in here without a microwave.

And yes, I will still be at this wonderful position next time I speak with you. No more sudden job swapping, I promise. I will have some well-earned stability. I will have learned much more than my phenomenal first day, and I will always keep learning.

What’s the point if you stop learning?

Vivian