another day 28 june 2016 post script

well it's taken some time for me to be able to write about this, but i can say that having read that post a number of times, including a few minutes ago, i am really proud of the person i am...

proud of the courage i have and continue to show
proud of the way i gracefully fought this claim (and won)
proud of the way i continued to turn up to work despite the monumental cost to my physical, emotional and mental wellbeing; and
proud of the way i chose to extract myself from that situation (despite the fears of i'm new in this town, nobody knows me, i'll never get another job etc.)

well i showed them! and i don't say that in a mean way but they picked the wrong person to mess with in this particular situation

i did nothing wrong - the thing that pleases me most is even then, i believed in myself and knew in my heart i had done nothing wrong

i was the person being bullied, and man did they pay for that?

working at that company and for that man and with some of those colleagues was one of the most difficult times of my professional career, but a time that taught me so much; about who i am, about who i want to be, about what i want to be doing and about what's important to me

i'm writing about it today because i found myself 'sticking to my guns' about something else in the last couple of days, but in a different way and with a positive outcome...and in doing so, it's inspired me to try and capture what my values are and what the values of my new business will be

and sure i don't usually go in for these buzz words, but actually, who i am and what i stand for and how i will behave - these are important things for both me (reminders when i'm under pressure or when things aren't going well) and for my clients (so they know what they will get, what i stand for etc.)

but mostly, i wanted to document that i survived the awful experiences of the last workplace i will likely ever be an employee at, and not only did i survive, i thrived...

since leaving there i was offered another job (1 day after leaving), i have moved back to my home town which i am more grateful for than words could ever express and i have started my own business again...

so each day i get to choose how i will be, how i show up and what work i do...

so PS thanks terrible former workplace for making it so bad that i decided to stand up for me, for what i believe in and to find a way to follow my dream :-)