Back in the Saddle

I have worked three consecutive days this week. At the same school. I am booked to work there today as well. That is four out of five working days. It has been marvelous!!!

I have learned more in the past three days, than I did in the first two months at the first school I worked at.

Granted, there was a pretty steep learning curve going into my original school. I did not have a secretarial background. I took courses and had a determined 'I can figure this out' attitude. I took those tools and that was all that I was equipped with, when I walked into a brand new work environment where I didn't know the lay of the land, the rules or the expectations. So I'll give myself a bit of a break. For the first month.

Originally, I was not in an environment where I had the opportunity to grow. Since that time, I have felt a little bit like a bird who has been tossed out of his nest and forced given the freedom to fly.

It has been a frightening ride. But what I needed to learn is: how to think on my feet, become adaptable and to learn to rely on myself to find the answers. Yes, I have called around and found out what I needed to know. But the quest for the answer and figuring things out put that new found knowledge in a longer term memory block in my brain. The harder you have to work for an answer, the more likely you are to remember it.

Over the course of the past three months, I have been placed in situations where I thought I was in over my head. And I have succeeded.

I have heard little nuggets of positive feedback, so I know I'm headed in a good direction. I'm no different than a small child. I need some encouragement. Not false hope or illusions. Just tell me what I'm doing right. But also tell me what I'm doing wrong, so that I can fix it.

This week has felt like the ultimate turning point. I have been working in a high school, doing the job that I was originally hired to do. And I'm doing it!

Being tossed into a high school environment has been a little bit like getting back on the horse that tossed me off and kicked me while I was down.

Well! I got back on that horse and I'm headed where I want to go. And if that horse bucks me off again? I will get right back on and learn what I need to know to decrease the likelihood of letting it happen again.

"When you're young and you fall off a horse, you may break something. When you're my age, you splatter." ~ Roy Rogers

I am grateful that I didn't splatter.