First Job Ever! (and life lessons)

Dear Diary,

I am now officially an employee.

First actual job ever, can you believe it?

Today, Wednesday, August 17th, is the first day of my fourth week here.

It's weird.. (Not necessarily good weird or bad weird; just indifferently weird). Because I'm working where I used to spend my time studying. I'm seeing a whole different place than the one I'm used to.
And, I know it's a bit early for me to actually judge working here, but I'm gonna do it anyway.

So.. Before the judging, we need facts.
And here are the facts:

1. The working days are 6 days a week. (Which means I have only one day off. And mine is on Tuesday). (Side fact: I dislike weekends and that makes it a bonus).
2. Working hours are 8 hours a day + half an hour break.
3. Location: Dhahran Recreation Library. (A place that I adore and am comfortable in). (Plus.. BOOKS! - another bonus).
4. Shifts! (I dislike routines; I like change)

   When I started working here; for the first two weeks, my schedule was from 7:00 AM till 3:30 PM. And on the third week my schedule changed to a mid-shift; which means, my schedule now is from 11:00 AM till 7:30 PM. (This change will be for this month only; to evaluate which one of those two schedules suits me better).

Before I get into the story of this job, I'm gonna talk about something..

I’ve always thought that life is about setting goals and reaching them; that life is all about having a vision of who and what a person wants to be. So many people say the exact opposite; they say that life is living the moment. Be a clean canvas. Explore yourself and the world around you as you go. But, I’ve never knew what they meant until now. And it’s not that I necessarily think differently now, it’s just that I’ve been thinking lately.. Because I’m worried about not reaching those goals. And because how, not having goals, could actually give me a lot more freedom in working and exploring more things in life.

I never intended on having a goal from the beginning. I started having goals as I went through college and through volunteering and.. Through life. Step by step, I began the journey of setting my goals and learning what ways that could help me reach them.

And, right now, I’m barely even close to reaching them. They are still far away. But, I learned how important they are to me. And I’m clinging to them with all I have.

I won’t talk about those goals, because I would like to achieve them first.

Here’s a funny fact: during the final course of college, as much as I was happy and excited about graduating, I was actually as equally worried about the few months after graduation and what I’m going to do with them. (Or, more accurately, with myself).

Now, for the story of how I got this job:

It was in the middle of Ramadan and my brother Khalid told me that he put my name as the volunteer responsible for video shooting  an event. So, I went with him that day dragging my post-graduation depression with me.
In that event I saw Mrs. Ghadeer, the person who arranges most of the volunteering events I go to, and when she found out that I graduated, she suggested that I come work in the library until I find a better option or find what I’m looking for. And that was actually the best suggestion ever.. Because, not that many people actually get the opportunity to work/get and experience right after graduating. And for me it was twice as good of an offer because I’ve been volunteering there for years, and I know most of the staff there.

So, I sent my C.V. and got an interview and a few days after that I got the job offer and I signed it. (The fact that I'm a regular volunteer with them helped).

And after that, I started working on Wednesday, the 27th of July.

And I started seeing the other side of the coin.

I got to know the long, long procedure of the Library. Starting from how and when to order books to the point of shelving them. (And, of course, the long and a little complicated procedure, in between).

Something fun to do in this job: teaching volunteers how to do the shelving and shelf-reading using the Dewey Decimal Classification System.

But most importantly, I’ve learned a number of important lessons in those few weeks:

• I learned that, no matter what and where you are, the beginnings are always the hardest. Especially when dealing with the unknown or dealing with something you are not used to.
• Never forget that there are two sides to a coin. Never forget that. Because there will come a day when you’ll be completely surprised about the other side; whether it’s a good one or a bad one.
• Because of learning new things every day, and because I’m not working in a specific area, or in an area in my major, I started learning my strengths and weaknesses on those new areas at work.

I've worked in a number of positions in those past few weeks; I worked at the circulation desk, the children's section, the media section, entering data of new books, learned how to catalog.. So many different areas. Which could be a bit of a routine sometimes, but still somethings to do and somethings to learn.

* * *

I also learned one very, very important fact about myself:
After I finished the interview and accepted the job offer, I got another job offer. A hundred percent better job offer. And I went for an interview and I did so well they offered me the job at the interview. And at that point I started weighing the possibilities and who I want to be and which one of those two roads I am willing to spend that period of my life traveling. Which one of those two has more of me.

I learned an important lesson of the person I am. Or I am becoming.

I am now slowly realizing that it is more than okay not to achieve your goals immediately after graduating. It is completely fine to go through hard times and think that your goals will not be achieved, as long as you get back on track stronger than before. And with a mind set stronger to achieve those goals.

So, I am giving myself the permission to enjoy where I am right now while trying to reach my goals.

I am teaching myself to enjoy the ride. Because, after all, nobody starts from the top.
Everybody’s gotta start somewhere to reach that top.