To Higher Ground...

I cannot believe how blessed I have been the past month. And I just couldn't help but write about it. It has taken me quite a journey over the past years to finally break out of the mold that people, mainly my family have put me in. The mold to be like them- to show perfection, to show strength, to show that I can do anything THEY want me to do. Not that it was too horrible but the creative ME was just itching to get my own life on. I am my own person, and I have always known that from the beginning but being the youngest sister I have always felt the need to respect others wishes, to put their feelings and such before mine. And here I am. On higher ground... on my own.

So enough of that back story (for now)...SO LET ME JUST SAY THIS, I feel very blessed to have the opportunity, after FOUR long years of hard work and persistence to move up from within my workplace. I thought the time would never come. When I first started my job, I really felt it was just a temporary setback, a need-to-have kind of basis. It was definitely NOT comparable to the two jobs I had back home, one at the corporate accounting level of $23/hr, the other being at $20/hr at a nightclub in SF. Here I am, at the the starter job for most teens making the minimum wage of Washington State. It was a job nevertheless. I quickly climbed my way through the retail food chain, training in many places of the Department as possible. And then finally reaching a comfortable halt within the Photo Lab. MY ULTIMATE LOVE. film, photography, developing... I was all over it and learning it faster than ever. Soon enough I was a permanent member of the Lab. And with every part of life, world, work (not to mention living in a very HIGHLY populated military world)....people come and go, changes arise, and somehow I found myself unhappy AND also being pushed out of my normal workstations and losing hours. I couldn't figure it out... I thought it was personally towards me until I realized half of the store was getting the same treatment and dropping like flies. So I did what I could to change my fate by trying a completely different position and avoiding anything that had to do with my old one.

FAST FORWARD, that didn't work out as I would hoped. So I started back at the beginning, which would be horrible for some people but I for one was just happy to be back to what I knew best! And starting to see some more familiar and friendly faces. Yet here I was again. Stuck in time, stuck going nowhere - neither up or down. 2011 - another new year to turn things around. I was getting more hours, which meant I working more, which meant happy paychecks. But what could I do to get ahead. Get back to living my potential.

And then there was the recommendation, from my previous supervisor. I didn't believe it at first when she asked me if I was interested but the words, "I would love to be trained!" was already flowing from my mouth. March, April, May..... I went from working on the Floor, to working from a desk. Its been amazing! I enjoy every bit of it, even though I'm still trying to remember certain tasks and routines. The even better part, I also got my goal in the works. Before I even knew that I would have the opportunity to train in the Office, I had expressed A LOT of interest in working in the Pharmacy for the B-Tech program. I start my training in a week:) I hope that this it the beginning for greater things.

Even if this recent success could suddenly disappear, I am really grateful for all the new knowledge it has given me:)

Sorry if that was long!