Funny how comments from other people can take you back to a moment in time that you made an absolutely resolute decision.
My dad died when I was 16 and I had spent half a year out of school to stay with him during his illness. As a result, I decided to work my butt off as I could not get back into school until the following fall. I worked in a Taco Bell during the day and cleaned up a hair salon on Monday Wednesday and Fridays. Additionally, Monday through Friday late in the day/evening I cleaned up an A&W root beer stand.
All three jobs were hard work – really hard work! Once I was back in school I didn’t work at those jobs anymore and I made an absolute vow to myself that no matter what happened in my life I would never work with food or do industrial cleaning again. And knock on wood, I never have. Now I don’t believe there’s anything wrong with working in those industry’s but for me having those three jobs every day for five days a week made me appreciate the scholastic opportunities ahead which would afford me a broad choice of careers.
So back to my first paragraph. Several women at a party I hosted asked me if I would be interested in catering parties, party planning and helping them with home decorating. All complements. I wanted to immediately answer them by saying“right after hell freezes over I’ll help cater your parties”. But I recognized this was the reaction of a 16 year old child who had just lost a parent, who was living with a parent that they didn’t particularly get along with and in general was in a very difficult and challenging place and time.
Those three jobs gave me the foundation of my work ethic. They taught me everything I didn’t want to do with my future and provided the courage to find what I did want to do. They taught me that I could do anything I could envision as long as I worked hard to achieve that goal. Those jobs also taught me to survive and thrive, and there is always a silver lining in even the most uncomfortable times in our life.
While those thoughts at that party were flashing through my head at lightening speed, it gave me something to think about between that night and the next morning. I believe every young person today may benefit from the experience of genuinely hard work so they too might find the strength to believe in themselves enough to persevere for their dreams. I’m grateful for those three jobs. Without them I would never have had the courage to achieve success in business and I certainly would not be the person I am today.
Bottom line, your experience may not seem like an opportunity at times but life is what you make it so make it what you like!
