Merle’s work history helps with first hand knowledge of how to manage stress at work.
She owned 2 pharmacies with her husband – with 17 employees in one. That gave her a view of work relationships from the boss’s point of view. She worked at a holding company, doing accounting work for a small group of Saudi sheiks with local investments. Financial deadlines made her learn how to deal with work stress. Of course junior high school teaching gives a completely different perspective on relationships. Also, leadership roles in the community has earned her “Woman of Distinction” Award given by Hollywood Chamber of Commerce and affording plenty of experience in dealing with relationship stress caused by different personalities and egos. The relationship stress in community organization is greater than the commercial/corporate workplace because it’s volunteer. No one HAS to be there. It takes plenty of thought and focus to discover and use the many tips for relieving stress at work in the community and inspiring people to want to continue to volunteer.
She even owned a company that manufactured and sold replicas of pharmaceutical antiques for a short time.
A work history that includes success and failure, boss and employee just like her marriage, experiencing both success and failure. It was in year 19 that Merle was ready to ‘give up the ghost’ and split from her marriage. It was her grown sons that slowed down the split up. He pushed for some marriage counseling. It worked; the couple stayed together, but Merle was still discontented. If marriage counseling couldn’t help; she needed to coach herself.
She didn’t know what to do, so she started with her bucket list, picking things to do that would make herself happy. She simply put her husband on the shelf, so to speak, focusing completely on her own happiness. After 19 years of focusing on husband and children, this felt odd. She got her mojo back and would come home from work, Greeting Hubbie with a smile and a hug – completely forgetting how mad she was at him. That was certainly a lesson in how mood affects relationships.