The New Job

I am still working at my previous job, but I am now also working at Starbucks. Not exactly the "new job" that I was thinking of as I wrote down my goals, but it is a new job.

I decided to apply at Starbucks late on a Saturday night, bored, lonely, and ready to try something new. Within 48 hours I had been interviewed and hired, so I suppose it was meant to be. I really do think it was - I have met so many great people, learned a skill I have always wanted to learn, and am doing something that I simply wanted to do without there being a real "purpose".

Although, I do think there was a greater purpose that I was unaware of in the beginning. Like I said, I have met a lot of great people, I have learned a new skill, I have something that occupies my days and gets me out of my apartment. It has also been a bit of a learning experience in that I have fully realized how prideful I am.

Let me explain. I wanted to work at Starbucks (or a coffee shop of some kind). I was excited to start learning about coffee and the process of creating these different beverages. I was looking forward to meeting new people and thrilled to be doing something active each day. Yet, I didn't actually tell many people that I had this new job. When I did tell people, it was always with the explanation that this is something that I chose, something I wanted, and most importantly not something I needed or had to do.

For whatever reason, simply doing something that brought me happiness was not enough of a reason for me. Now let me also say that I am the only one (at least I think I am the only one) that thinks this way. I have had zero negative feedback from anyone that I have told. Any embarrassment, anxiety, or hurt pride at working at Starbucks with a six figure college degree is of my own making.

So, does my new job count as the New Job that I listed several months ago? Sure, but also not really. So I have accomplished goal 56a, but goal 56b has a different spirit behind it. One that I may not have been able to achieve without first unintentionally creating and crossing of goal 56a.

Moral of the story: Sometimes (like, most of the time) we are our own worse critic. Sometimes (again, like most of the time) we set standards for ourselves that we would never dream of placing on someone else. Finally, sometimes (like, all of the time) we need to show ourselves a little grace and be open to when The Plan is a bit different from what we thought it was. We need to be open to the idea that we can learn immensely from the deviations in our own "plans" and that, in the long run, the process of accomplishing goal 56a may be even more important than goal 56b.