Mentor meeting

At IBM we are encouraged to have a "mentor". This person advises you and guides you in your IBM career. They can't be in your dept, or your manager, and the realationship is one of trust where you can tell your mentor anything on your mind and your mentor will never discuss it with anyone else. My mentor, Danna, is awesome. She used to be my manager when I first started at Tivoli. She was the best manager I've ever had. As my mentor she also talks to me about personal things going on in my life. I met with her yesterday and we talked about some IBM stuff, and I also told her of recent events in my personal life. What I got out of the discussion was that people make friends on many different levels and it all depends on the person. I am the type of person who invests a lot of herself into her friends on an emotional level, and therefore I place a lot of value on these friendships. People who don't invest as much feel less of a loss when a freindship dies. By letting this situation continue to hurt me I am giving the other person the power to control me. She's right. I didn't see it before.

I feel a million times better.