I think an infusion of endorphins kept my shoulder/arm pain from this pinched nerve at bay today. Well, not totally at bay -- it was more "nagging" than "screaming", which means it was still there, but at least I could function. I'll take nagging over screaming, although I'd much prefer totally GONE. (It's actually worse tonight than it was all day today).
So, why the infusion of endorphins, you ask?
It's actually kind of bizarre and ironic. I completed the office newsletter that I've been whining about (enjoy doing it, bad timing because of proposal deadlines, therefore lots of stress). Today I sent it out via email as a PDF -- we try to be as paperless as possible -- and so after going over it for the millionth time to make sure I'd caught any errors or typos, I hit the button and out it went, to 150 people. This newsletter used to be handled by the office principal who was recently fired (that shocked the hell out of me). I was often asked to contribute articles, but she oversaw the thing and I don't know who actually put it together but it always made me cringe. It looked like something that might have been done when I was in the 6th grade on a mimeograph (sp?) machine and we all know that was eons ago. It sucked big time. So when the responsibility became mine, I knew that I couldn't allow it to look like that, or BE like that. I've spent a lot of hours, including time at Harstine Island, creating a template for it in InDesign to make it fun but professional. I've done interviews for articles and written them, I've run around with a digital camera and taken pictures, and I've put a lot of pride into this thing, even though it's caused me some grief with proposal managers being irritated with me for taking time away from their proposals. So hitting that "send" button was a little nerve-wracking.
Well. All day long I kept receiving email after email after email from people complimenting me! And they'd cc my boss and the big-wigs! I even received kudos from the big-wigs! People I didn't even KNOW! (I wasn't all that aware that many people were aware that I'd taken it over). My boss even called me a rock star. How about them apples?
The ironic part is that I never get compliments on the proposals I slave over. I mean, it's to the point where I often feel a little insecure about where I stand. The proposals take so damned much out of me (or any marketing coordinator) and we never receive a thank-you for our efforts, even after winning a multi-million-dollar contract! But an in-house newsletter warrants this many kudos? Jeeze. I have to tell you that it made me feel really good, though.
Hence, those endorphins.
