I started working at a very early age. Through my years in college, I was always told that having an extensive work experience might be your one-way ticket of earning a good (“dream job”) by the time you graduate. When I was younger, I aspired to be a well-paid lawyer; helping people and of course making enough ends meet. When I landed my first job as a waitress, those dreams and ideas changed. At the age of 17 I was a waitress for big elite events and parties. My job was to serve wines and beverages to wealthy people at classy events. Of course, that was were I first started to learn about wines and I became a wine enthusiast. For how naive it may sound, I wondered what it would be like if maybe just maybe someone would actually hire me to do a job that I actually love and want to grow in. In less than 2 years after my wish came true. I was working full time as an assistant in a consulting firm. I worked my way through being a helper to a full-time assistant in no time. My love and passion for my job was what made it all possible. Through my job I was able to put my best strengths to the test. I am a very well organized person who does not hesitate to work ahead of everyone else to “get the job done”. My boss loved how I always kept him up to date with everything because I was an excellent planner and bookkeeper. By the time I started University, I was juggling two jobs at the time and going to school full time. Everyone around me wondered why I kept so much on my plate for so long. It did not bother me that I had to work about 7 hours a day and attend school at least 5 to 6 hours a week, leaving only 11 hours in the day for “sleep and finish homework” so do the math. I thought I had it all under control until I started to randomly break down in the office. I would get easily frustrated or irritated by the slightest things. My emotional health seemed to have been deteriorating because all I ever did was work and go to school. I did not even have a social life for the record. For me having a social life meant cutting off time that I could have been either making money or getting schoolwork done. I aspired to be that person who was able to juggle school and my dream job at the same time. For many, my job did not seem as 'much work' or difficult to do. Between being a perfectionist, outgoing person, ready-to-serve spirit and high expectation mentality was this: the main core of my job entailed helping people. After a long day of work and coming home to pour myself a glass of wine, it hit me. How was I supposed to help people get it together when I was not able to get myself together? I felt like I was fraud and that all this was just a facade, a make-belief, an act and I was supposed to act on stage as if nothing is wrong. I realized that my mental and emotional health was deteriorating when I started forgetting important things like taking a break, eating, go out for a walk or fresh air, forget to feed the dog because I was too tired of working overtime and I dozed off. I understood how obsessed I got with my job and work schedule when the only topic I would bring in a conversation was work related. My friends stopped asking me to go out because I never had the time, or actually made time to see anyone because all I wanted to do was work and finish my assignments. I would get frequent panic attacks for no reason, and for God's sake I could not stop stressing out. I gained more than 10 pounds in a short time span and barely had time to watch t.v or anything else for that matter. One morning while having my morning coffee and reading through the newspaper obituary section it all made sense. There really is more to life than just working and having nice things. We live in a world of uncertainty and with that we should enjoy every moment and every chance that we get to have and share with others. As much as I loved my job, I had to choose between earning a decent wage and doing what I love verses my emotional and mental wellbeing. Through out this entire experience I have learned the value of time and self-care and for the first time I have finally decided to out myself first.
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Ebby
8/22/2017 07:46:44 pm
Aplauso
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Hi, thanks for stopping by.
My name is Keyla and I am a second year university student studying social work. I blog about social media, lifestyle, health, beauty, love, relationships, career and student life-hacks. Leave a comment and give my articles a ❤️ or 👍🏻 and don't forget to share to show your support. 😘, Keyla Publication Dates
March 2018
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