The new letters after my name....SAHM

Yesterday was my last day of work.....ever. I never thought I would do or say something like that. I'd been thinking about it for a couple of months, in fact, it took me a whole month just to bring myself to think about giving up work, let alone mention it. I went through a roller coaster of emotions dealing with this, including pain, tears, guilt and sorrow. I put off telling my team of my decision for two weeks because I felt guilty and I knew they would be devastated.

I love going to work, the challenges of solving problems, the adult interaction, the use of my adult skills and experience, the cups of tea made by my colleagues and the relationship I have with my staff. 

I decided to take a career break to look after my children while they are still young and focus on them wholly, fully and completely. I was really pleasantly surprised at how understanding many of my colleagues were about my decision. ''I am sure you won't regret spending time with your children'', ''You are doing the right thing'', ''I really admire you putting family first and career second'' the bank will always be here when your children grow up, but children are only young once and you should never miss out on it'', ''I'd do the same thing if I were in your shoes'' It was great to hear all those things. And in terms of priorities, family first, career second is definitely true in my book.

I also got some more career focussed comments like ''why don't you apply for the full time position that has just come up? you'll be perfect for it'' and ''why don't you negotiate your pay?'' and these are true too, if I didn't have my children, I would be making a career move and go up the ladder to a higher position of responsibility and remuneration. But that will have to wait till a year or two down the line. Sniff sniff. 

So my last day was very memorable and I had mixed feelings about it all. My team treated me to a feast of a 3 course Arabic lunch which included hommous, mutabal, tabbouleh, fattoush, felafel, halloumi, spinach pastries, cheese pastries, spicy potato cubes, lamb sausages, fresh bread,and salad platter and olives all for starters. Main course was grilled chicken and rice, and finally the sweetest freshest pineapple, watermelon and baklawa for dessert. To help with digestion, we had mint tea. It took us two hours to eat all this food, and we were so full that we went back to the office for the last hour of work feeling satisfactorily comatose and badly in need of a siesta. I was lavished with red roses, two boxes of chocolates, candles and a whole sheet of poetry composed by our very own in house poet. If I was ever in doubt about how my team felt about me, this said it all. Romantic!

I'm looking forward to tomorrow night when it's my leaving dinner, with my whole team.

I decided to take a survey on my values and this was my result....

You are an Open-Minded Achiever

You are someone who craves personal success, putting 100% effort into everything you do. It’s a quality that others are likely to admire and you take pleasure in knowing that your many achievements and accomplishments are respected. You like to challenge yourself to use your abilities and talents to the full and you apply these to reach your career and personal goals. As well as setting high standards for yourself and being keen to go the extra mile, you’re probably less tolerant of underachievement in others.

You enjoy as much variety in life as most people, balancing the need for stimulation with familiarity. You are reasonably willing to tackle new challenges and fairly comfortable with change. Most people probably see you as someone who enjoys excitement and risk-taking in some situations, while being noticeably less daring in other circumstances. You’re unlikely to be seen as a reckless thrill-seeker, but you have your moments when the need for excitement gets the better of you!

In general though, your need for some stability and continuity in your life provides a useful balance to your very high level of ambition. This will prevent you from becoming too restless or easily bored, and will give you the focus and persistence to see things through. Your friends probably consider you to be someone who strives to deliver great things, whilst also affording some time to finding satisfaction from other aspects of your life.

It does sound a lot like my colleagues and manager described me. I'm going to miss it bad. But I just hope I will never regret it. 

So I used to be Nargis AL-Sadiq, SSM, ACIB, BSc (Hons) 

While my other working friends made fun of me for becoming an unemployed chav, I considered whether being retired sounded better, but then got mocked for being a pensioner...so I decided to give myself a new title I am now a full time stay at home mum....Nargis Al-Sadiq SAHM

or FTSAHWTKM (full time stay at home with the kids mum)