Putting it to rest

After yet another poll removal, I am putting the " sold your soul for rock n roll" pharma rants to rest. Yes, I have sold my soul for the almighty dollar. I admit it. I may not be overly proud or comfortable with the decision, yet it is the brutal truth. My biggest hurdle is knowing there are people who work for harder than myself and do so much more good, yet are not compensated commensurately. I really do have a hard time with that. I am by no means monetarily rich. Yet, sometimes I feel a bit uncomfortable with where I am at. Do I deserve, and have I earned this lot in life?
Well, as I think back, yes I have earned this lot. Every penny of it. Out of college I worked a shit sales job to save up enough money to move to the Republic of Boulder to be a pro Triathlete. Yes, you may giggle. Part of that sacrifice was cash. It was worth it. It formed who I am and what is most important to me. I moved home in debt, yes negative equity kids and tried to get a footing. That lead to the most rewarding job ever, teaching handicapped and MR kids how to swim. If you ever want to know what kind of impact you have on someone, where there is no agenda and holding back, work with MR kids. Since there usually is a pre-frontal cortex deficit; or worse, trauma, you get the honest answer and emotion from them.
Then I was off to the EDS salt mines for three years. I worked long hours and hard at my jobs there to better myself. Three years post college and I finally made $20k/year. Yes, in three years I earned what most of my friends did right out of school.
At that point I just worked smarter and made good relationships that led to a good job. I killed myself for three years at AT&T. I then went to the Colonel's funhouse. I took the job very naively around making a difference through science. After killing myself for three years, I realized there was more to it.
With some good results and good moves I ended up in a dream job with the Colonel. Unfortunately, the job was phased out after just 10 months. So, here I am three years later. Three different managers since then. Eleven managers in eleven years at Lilly. After seeing yet another job I really enjoy get sliced and dices into smaller responsibilities, there are four reps now doing the job I did by myself just one short year ago, I am in the time of my discontent.
Fast forward. After getting a sweet raise for 2008, I fully realize I have morphed into a money-grubbing whore. You know what, I do not care. I did not design the territory. I work it. I still love what I do, when I get a chance to do it. Simple math says that is 25% of the time now.
I will put it to rest. I love the flexibility this position affords me. It may come in very handy some time soon.
That being said I am very much looking forward to my Wednesday meeting with my Area Saled Director. Hopefully I can take on some new responsibility.