Hey Cats!
Happy Monday! I hope everyone had a good weekend! I got to see my family this weekend, which was wonderful. My sister and her husband came to see me on Saturday, and we went to lunch and explored my new neighborhood a bit! Then on Sunday, I got to spend some time with my parents, and they got to see my apartment without boxes all over the floor. It was a great weekend, and I’m excited to go back for another week at work!
Speaking of my job, I am really enjoying it. I definitely still have a lot to learn, but I’m starting to get used to everything and not be so overwhelmed. I think it’s going to be a great way for me to learn about the administration side of healthcare, which is the direction I want my career to head in.
While I was looking for a job, I started freaking out once January rolled around, and started considering taking anything rather than what I really wanted. But at the same time, I didn’t want to take a job doing something I didn’t want to do, or end up living somewhere I didn’t want to be. I had quite a few “requirements” for what I wanted out of a job: something in healthcare, preferably pediatrics, something in the Houston area, and something that would give me the opportunity to help other people. But most importantly to me was to be in Houston. I have a lot of friends here, I love the city, and I think it’s a good place for me to be at this point in my life. I started applying for jobs at hospitals in the Medical Center, which is home to some of the best hospitals in the world. It wasn’t long after I received my first rejection letter from one of these hospitals that I realized I wasn’t going to go straight to the top fresh out of college. So I started to re-think my career goals. I applied to lots of PR jobs, social media specialist positions, and even positions in the fashion industry. But something kept pulling me back to the healthcare field, even though I had convinced myself that it probably wasn’t going to happen. There are a few really great hospitals in Tyler, where I’m from, and they actually had quite a few positions that I would have liked and was qualified for. But I knew I didn’t want to go back to Tyler, and just as I felt really strongly about working in the healthcare field, I felt like Houston was the place for me. I knew I was being really picky, but I kind of didn’t care.
I found a lot of jobs that I was “qualified” for. I found a lot of jobs that I may have been pretty good at. I found a lot of jobs in Tyler, Dallas, College Station, and places inbetween that sounded like something I would want to do. But I couldn’t do it- I was dead set on Houston. In fact, I only applied to two jobs that weren’t in Houston, one in Austin and one in College Station. I don’t think my parents know this, but I didn’t apply to a single job in Tyler. I started on a few applications, but I never finished them. Part of me was terrified that I was putting myself in an impossibly small box, but the other part of me was terrified to settle for something I didn’t want. So I kept applying, but only for jobs I thought I would love, in places I thought I would enjoy, constantly praying that the Lord would work things out for me.
The end of April, I received a job offer from a company in College Station. It was something I think I really would have enjoyed, but (along with a few other factors), I knew that after graduation, it was time for me to move on from Aggieland, as much as I loved it. As much as it scared me, I knew that it wasn’t the job for me and I needed to turn it down. I called them and declined the offer on a Wednesday afternoon, came to terms with the fact that I was going home to Tyler after graduation by Thursday morning, and received an offer for my job in Houston by lunch on Friday. Now, I know that this doesn’t happen for everyone. And honestly, I wasn’t really sure it was going to happen for me until it actually did. But, with lots of faith in myself and, what I was capable of, a refusal to settle, and most importantly, lots of prayer and a belief that God would provide exactly what I needed, I was pleasantly surprised.
Aside from my job search, there were quite a few things I decided not to settle on this year. Not settling for boys I knew were bad news. Not settling for three laps when I knew I could run four. Not settling for surface-level friendships with people I met this year when I knew I would be gone in a few months. Not settling for taking the easy way to being accepted and doing what was right instead. Not settling for missing out on anything my senior year even though I didn’t have time for it. And you know what? All of that was really hard. But I know that it helped me learn not to accept anything I didn’t want, in every area of my life. I guess the moral of the story is to trust God, trust your gut, and when you feel deep down inside that something isn’t right for you, don’t do it. You may have to wait a while for something else to come along, but it will definitely be worth it.
That’s all for meow!
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Sweet Cats! 