Change

One of my personal mantras is: "change is good". Sometimes I say that because I really feel it and other times it it because I need to remind myself that it is good. Once in a while I say it to shut up other people who would rather complain than embrace change.
Every once in a while, though, my mantra changes to be: "Change is good...except for when it sucks". I found out this morning that I am probably going to have to move to a new desk at work. Yes, my new desk will be in a logical location. According to the management "team" (the word "team" makes me feel like I'm at Target...I can even smell the cheap popcorn...) is the motivating factor behind the desk shuffle.

I love my desk. I told my manager this. I'm guessing he's much more concerned with logical placement than with the following:

1. I have spent 1/3 of my life at my current desk for well over three years now. You don't realize how much your desk feels like your home until you are faced with a potential desk shuffle.
2. I have plenty of warning when someone is approaching my desk--giving me sufficient time to "alt-tab" off of my hotmail window, my threadless window, my bank window, or...my blog window.
3. My new desk smells funny...sometimes like B.O. Sometimes like rotten salsa...sometimes like sewage...
4. My best work friend sits right next to me, so I can work/play at the same time
5. (in a whinny voice) I don't wanna sit by THOSE people!!!! Nobody will come talk to me!! Sigh...
6. I will no longer be able to lean way over to the left and see whether it is raining/snowing outside.
7. Moving sucks
8. My desk only has 2.75 cubicle walls. I like my .25 non-wall.
9. My humongus file cabinet won't fit at my new desk. I can just see it now...people will start thinking about using my file cabinet...then they will push my stuff over to the side a little...then they will start putting their crappy stuff in my file cabinet...then pretty soon they'll steal the key and lock it and I won't have my humongus file cabinet any longer. Then stuff will pile up on my desk and pretty soon I'll be like "Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout who would not take the garbage out".
10. Finally--my new desk will be 12 steps further from the entrance to the building than my old desk. This will delay my exit to the building by approximately 3.6 seconds.

Alrighty then...it occurred to me that several of my reasons for not wanting to move stem from my desire to not work the full 40 hours that I'm being paid to work.
So...in the spirit of sick optimism, here is my list of benefits to moving:

1. It is warmer at my new desk (I'm always freezing).
2. Forced detailed cleaning of my desk
3. I'll have to work harder...I don't know how that is a good thing, but it seems like it should be for someone
4. maybe those 12 extra daily steps will help me lose weight...(Okay, I know this one isn't true because I currently walk over to my new desk about 6x per day so I'll actually be walking less)
5. who doesn't love staring at a blank wall all day? (Oh crap...I forgot that I was listing GOOD things now)
6. Change is good

I really did mean that last one. The fun thing about change is that you really don't know what new things you will encounter during a change. You can take time to weigh the pros and cons of a situation like this, but you really have no idea what the pros will be.
So, here I go: embracing this change with a good attitude and lots of hope for a new desk, a new year, and maybe a new unknown talent that can only be unleashed by moving to a new desk. (Okay, that last part was just dumb).