What do you do when you feel like nothing is going right? You try really hard to get things to go your way, but the rain is hitting the windshield so hard you can’t see, and all of a sudden there are brake lights in front of you. They say when it rains it pours. When I was younger, if some sort of shit hadn’t hit the fan in a couple of weeks or months, I always went to church because I figured something bad was going to happen soon. We’ve all had our fair share of storms.
There are times when it can be hard to wake up in the morning and face the day. I always try to stay positive, but sometimes it can be hard. A year ago, R and I had just moved back to the PNW from Utah, leaving 4 years of fast friendships, memories, and life behind. When I got here a few weeks before R, I started a serious job search, sure that I would find something easily given my (insert eg0) extensive experience. Rejection after rejection came and I was pissed. You can’t force someone to get to know you within an hour or less of talking, so how do you convince someone in that time that you’re fit to do the job they are looking to fill, and that you’ll bind with their team? You can’t. You can only do your best. Luckily, I was able to step into a role with my parent’s business. They trusted me, even though I didn’t have experience. Why can’t more companies do that?
We live in the generation where we are expected to know how to do everything quickly and easily, but if we don’t have the exact experience someone is looking for, our resume won’t make it past HR. I was listening to a radio story the other day about how in Asia, teachers expect their students to fail, and understand that they will learn from their mistakes. In the U.S. we are expected to get it right, and if we don’t, we’re expected to do what it takes to figure it out on our own. This article was highlighting elementary classrooms, but I couldn’t help but think of how engrained into us this is.
Asking for help, is seen as some sort of sign of failure, but in reality, everyone needs help. Whether it’s finding a job, or learning how to draw a 3D cube, everyone has to learn from somewhere or someone else.
xx
-h