A Rose By Any Other Name

I have renamed my blog.

It took the comment of a long-ago friend to point out the shortcomings with the former title, but once she did, I agreed 100%.

The phrase "It wasn't enough" was among the parting words from my former place of full-time employment. It was uttered in April when I was cut loose. That departure came after a period during which I was told (and believed, color me naive) that my extra efforts could actually save my position. In assessing the results, it was determined by the Powers That Be that I had fallen short.

"We know you tried really hard. But it wasn't enough."

Stuck for a title to my new blog, the time for which was afforded by my lack of full-time employment, I put the phrase to use, hoping to sap it of its power the way that racist and sexist labels are often re-defined by the people to whom they're meant to slur.

It never really worked out that way.

I see now that I was becoming trapped by it. Those offhand words -- and all they signified -- were boxing me in.

And funny enough, I'm sure my employer long ago put me in its rear view mirror and zoomed onward to the next set of meetings, projects, conference calls, sales pitches, product launches, and deadlines.

While I remained in the past. Even if it were just from the standpoint of this blog. Every time I launched a new posting through Facebook or Twitter, there it was: It Wasn't Enough.

A message wrapped in a three-day old flounder, reeking of rot and buzzing with flies.

Well, no more.

I'm looking upward, onward, forward. I like the new name -- the hope that it engenders, the positive outlook, the anticipation of things to come.

Being unemployed has opened me to dozens of pieces of advice. One of the most compelling also came from a friend (not the same person who pointed out her displeasure with my former blog's name, but someone just as insightful).

She told me this: "Be the man you are now, right at this moment, with all your experience and insight and talent and wit and drive. Not the person you were back in April when you were cut loose."

My former blog name -- a big fat albatross that I wore like a cowbell -- was a huge part of who I was in April.

But it is not who I am in November. Or who I will be in December. Or next year. Or next decade. Or beyond that.

Welcome to my newly named blog.