Sounds Mostly Right.

Cancer
By Rick Levine
You are able to clearly see where you're heading now and could become the person that everyone depends on because of your solid sense of direction. It's wise to rely on your instincts because you know where you are, and how to get where you are going. But you must pay careful attention today since everything seems to be moving so fast. Update others with the details often so everyone feels included in the process.

Some days I wake up in a panic/funk - what am I doing? Where am I heading? Can I succeed at this? And then I actually GO TO THE OFFICE and realize that I do feel at home and know what I'm doing. My biggest issue is hurrying. I'm a Type A corporate type from the Big City. That's a joke - I remember moving to Orlando way back when and laughing out loud at news stories covering the opening of a really tall building - 20 stories! - downtown. Orlando was adorably small town when we moved there in 1982.

I moved from an area with I'm not sure how far over a million, but lots of people, to a city with 86,000 people. It's a culture shock in a lot of very nice ways - I love the city, I love the interconnectedness of the community, it's truly a blast to live here. But I'm not quite over my big city ways - first it was "Where's my freaking MLS access??" and now it's "Where are my freaking business cards?" The serene answer is, they are in progress, and they'll happen in their own sweet time. The issue is me, adjusting, not Asheville. This slower pace is why I came here, why I felt my blood pressure drop as I drove into town.

I've worked in Florida for decades, and I'm familiar with Latin Time, Island Time, all the nicknames for "Oh, relax, it'll get done when they're ready." Asheville makes Island Time feel like Noo Yawk City! Everybody's so damn nice, and so relaxed, and business gets done, but with less hysteria and far less screaming and paranoia than I am used to. (I'm guessing that I could still find that familiar neurotic panic on a smaller scale, if I miss it, by visiting one of the bigger law firms in town, but I'm not interested.) I like this.

But apparently it's going to take me a little time to adapt my natural Type A behavior to doing right for my clients, and not worrying about drama from a corporate overlord. I just have to keep reminding myself that I now work for myself and can apply my big city "Get it done!" attitude to Asheville time, and I don't need to bolt upright in bed at 3 a.m. and worry about the asshole corporate managers without a clue who will be freaked out and yelling at me about things I had nothing to do with - I have corporate PTSD. I just remind myself that I work for myself now, with the support of a really great, supportive company. They are not the boss of me, and doing right by my clients is my only mission, and I absolutely know I can do that.

While I still feel a bit like the White Rabbit, checking my pocket watch and dithering because I'm late, I'm late, I have had my license over two whole weeks and I'm barely getting started! I know that in reality I'm right on time, it's all cool. Breathe, breathe.

So no, Mr. Horoscope man - while I have a ton of things to get done and they are all important, I can't say they are really moving all that fast, compared to the pace I was used to - my feeling of hurrying is in my head. But when things do get scheduled, they are sometimes in conflict. I pointed out a conflict to somebody doing scheduling for May, and she thanked me and will adjust the schedule. I am a neurotic big city corporate type, and when handed the draft of the May schedule, sat down and started putting it in my calendar linked to my smart phone, and saw a conflict and shot her a heads up email, and she was happy to get it and will move the stuff in conflict. Neurotic Big City Bitch FTW! Because that is who I am - my clients will benefit, and eventually I'll hit that balance and put my ingrained Big City Why Is This Taking So Long Call Me Back Today!! to work for them, in a gentle, toned down local way, and provide great customer service without waking up at 3 a.m.