I’ve been out of work for two weeks now. And being out of work has been depressing, so I haven’t spent nearly as much time in front of the Internet as usual. I have new trade magazines that I’ve only flipped through. Overall, I’ve just been kind of listless and keeping a low profile.

This week I’ve decided to start at least coming into the salon for a few hours during the day just to work on some small side projects and get the feel for being back at work— even if I can’t do much yet.

Just yesterday I was thinking what I would write about this week and it took me a few minutes to think some stuff up. Now I’m sitting down in front of the computer and it seems that all my subjects are pretty lame. Like I’m reaching. And then it hit me:

Is this what it’s like to be one of those techs in the business who don’t keep up with the industry? Is this how blank and clueless I would be if I was one of those people who never went to tradeshows or read the trade mags or took continuing education classes? Is this what that feels like?

Cuz if it is, let me just say, I definitely do not feel like I know it all. I don’t feel like I have nothing left to learn. I don’t feel like the big Kahuna. I feel lost. I feel out of the loop, like the whole world has gone on without me and when I get back to working, I’m going to have to hustle to catch up!

I can’t imagine what goes through the minds of all those people in our business who don’t bother staying up with the industry — like getting their license was all they needed to learn in order to do this job well.

Only two weeks and I feel like I’ve missed so much. This business moves too dang fast to start thinking you can sit down and rest on your laurels. I’m gonna have to get back in the swing of things and catch up with the last few weeks. I’m just glad I’m not one of those people who needs to catch up with the last 20 years!