A break!
I have had two HUGE projects looming at work for next month. These two HUGE projects are ones in addition to the day-to-day workload I have (my current assignment at work has a heavier workload than any I've had in the more than 22 years I've had this job).
Because I am retiring at the beginning of December, I'm not taking any vacation days (money out of my pocket when I leave), and I have been bringing work home EVERY night and weekend all summer. Not only that, but these two projects were to culminate at the exact same time next month, and one of them has been slowly slipping out of control due to various problems, including vacation schedules of other various participants. It looked like there was no way out.
Yesterday there was a significant planning meeting concerning the biggest and most problematic of the two projects. The bottom line is that this particular one is now "off" until sometime in September at the earliest. There is still a CHANCE it will be resolved in some other way, but for now, at least, I can breathe.
I came home last night without bringing ANYTHING home, ordered a pizza, and went to bed at 9 pm, getting a good night's sleep.
The funny thing is, when I was driving in to work yesterday (knowing there was a possibility this thing would be postponed to September), I let go of what would happen. I repeated the Serenity Prayer (adding the "thy will, not mine" at the end). It was one of those situations where I couldn't possibly know what was best. On the one hand, it would be good to only deal with one of these messes at a time. On the other, I have been looking forward to getting past both of them, and now the one will still be looming (for awhile, anyway).
So we shall see what becomes of project #2. It's possible that, since I am leaving December 1, it will be reassigned to someone else in case there are further delays. Or, something may happen to make it go away altogether (still a possibility). For now, though, I choose to be grateful that I only have to focus on one of these at a time, and I can still work on my other responsibilities at work (which would have been sadly neglected and would have led to additional stress next month).
For now, I choose to be grateful. My HP knows better than I do how this will all shake out.