Changes

Source

I feel like the last two weeks I have been living in a blur. So much in my life changed in short period of time that I feel like I wasn't completely prepared for what was to come, and my mind and body are still trying to catch up. I feel completely drained yet completely full at the same time - if that makes any sense at all.

Last Thursday I had my final day at what I will always consider my "first job". It was my first experience in the corporate world and when I accepted the job I wan't sure how I would fair in that  environment. I had always planned on working as a teacher in a school and I knew that the job I was taking as an assistant in a giant oil & gas company would be quite the opposite. I surprised even myself when I loved it from the first day. I loved the hustle and bustle, the lessons and learning that came everyday while working in an industry that I had no prior knowledge in, and I mostly loved the people that I worked with. Those people, my "first job" co-workers embraced me from the first day, taught me more life lessons than I can even recount, and are the reason that I cried like a baby when I had to walk out the doors last Thursday. 

I had everything I needed at that job and was just fine going to work everyday, but a part of me knew that I wouldn't stay with that company, even that group of people, forever. So when a job came available a few weeks ago I agreed to interview, with reservations about leaving my job at the time. But after hearing about the job, the daily tasks, the events I would be planning, and the many, many people that I would be meeting and building relationships with, I knew that it was the job for me. Something that I realized during my five months of "fun-employment" last spring was that my passion is for people and that I wanted a job that would allow me to be with people as much as possible. 

This passion for people is why I had to take a chance, resign from my safe job that I loved, and join a new firm where I would be starting over. I am working in recruiting and development now which means all new duties and brand new things to learn, but I couldn't be more excited for the job and everything that is to come. I pop out of bed in the mornings, anxious to arrive at work and see what the day has in store and I believe that is a feeling that isn't going to go away. 

*When I did go in to discuss with my former and "first" boss that I had been offered a new job, I was nervous and felt like I was going to break-up with a boyfriend. He listened to me as I talked about the job description and the opportunities it would give me and he was understanding as I cried about the possibility of leaving that job and co-workers. But after hearing everything he said something that I will never forget and that I will carry throughout my life. He said, "Whatever you do, chase your passion. While you can, while you are young, chase your passion."

Chasing my passion.