My inspiration for this post came from my dear, longtime blogging friend, Debbie @ Musings by an ND Domer's Mom, who is not only a gifted...
In addition to my regular job, I just recently got a new part-time job. Since January, I’ve been sending out resumes online and got only ONE response. It was for a job that required traveling, which was not included on the requirement section of the application when I applied. And since I don’t have a car, I had to turn the job interview down.
The reason why I started sending out resumes back in January was because little by little my hours were getting reduced. But since I love my job and didn’t want to bail out just because things seemed -ify, I thought by getting a part-time job I could fill in the hours that were reduced and work both jobs, which would equal a full-time job.
About three weeks ago, I suddenly got a call from one of the companies I had applied for only two days after I sent them my resume. So, I went in for an interview and was offered a job immediately. YAY! And not only was I offered a job, but they offered me an upgrade job because the manager thought that my background experience would be better suited for a different and slightly higher paying position she had in mind. And what's really super about this new job is that the manager is willing to work with my schedule; allowing me to let her know what days I want to work and how many hours. So, it's a perfect mesh with my other job.
Anyway, I went through a one-day orientation and then began working there last week and I loved it! It is within the same industry I have currently been working for the past 26 years, so it's job I know well, but at the same time it’s a job that will be training me on new and different products I know nothing about. Therefore, I’ll be learning. And I LOVE to learn.
Oh, and another super thing about this job is that it’s only 5 blocks from where I live!
Now here’s the ironic part.
No sooner had I accepted this new job did I get two other job interviews from resumes I had sent out MONTHS ago, both of which I declined because after speaking with each manager on the phone about the specifics, the jobs didn’t feel right. And besides that, I had already committed to the new job I currently have. However, I thanked them very much for contacting me.
The reason I’m sharing this story with you today is to offer a lesson I've learned, and continue to learn.
Now I’m not going to lie, back in January I was getting a bit concerned about the stability of my job because let’s face it, no one’s job is EVER secure, especially with the economy. But instead of freaking out and getting overly-scared and scattered about whether or not more of my hours would be cut from my schedule in the spring, I decided to do what I could only do, which was to send out resumes and trust that the perfect fill-in job would come along when the time was right.
And another thing I did while I was sending out resumes was that I detached myself from dwelling on my job security, by focusing on everything in my life that I had to be grateful for. And in doing so, it kept my spirits high and my attitude positive.
I know I’ve shared about these two topics many times before, but I’m going to share them again because they are topics that seem to be a learning theme in my life, so I feel they're worth repeating and passing on in case they can be of help and support to any of you.
Gratitude and trust.
I have very little control over the exact direction of my life because things could suddenly change for me at any given moment. However, I do think I have complete control over how I experience those changes. I can either focus on the fear and the future, or I can focus on the good and the present. Yes, I can actively participate by taking physical steps (such as sending out resumes), but I still have little control over how these physical steps will manifest. The only thing I can do is take the steps and stay open.
And in the interim, I think the most helpful thing I can do for myself is to remain grateful for what is good. Right now.
Life is like dancing with a partner.
Sometimes we get to lead. Sometimes we have to follow.
But that’s life. It's an unknown yet, participating dance.
A dance in sensing when to lead and when to follow.
And trusting in both.
Have a fabulous weekend everyone!
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