Life Hands You What You Need

I love my little ruts. I like to change them up a little from time to time, but once I get into a comfortable routine I like to sit back and enjoy the ride.

Perhaps I was getting to used to feeling comfortable. Maybe I needed life to hand me a lesson that I wasn't looking for. And it did.

I thought that leaving one line of work and forging into a completely different environment was enough of a challenge for me. I wasn't expecting an entire new set of life-lessons to be thrown my way within the first few months of that transition.

When it was suggested that I take on a substitute-secretary role at the schools, I felt my knees go week. How in the world would I survive in a world where every day was a new day without adequate training to get me through my days? I could be called to any school in the city and the likelihood of working without assistance in the office was very high.

I was tossed into a world where I wake up in the morning not knowing if, when and where I may be called to work. To say that this has been a shock to my system would be an understatement.

I am almost five months in to this new world of mine and ... I can't believe that I am saying this ... this has been exactly what I needed.

I have learned so much more than 'my job' throughout this time.

I have learned to be adaptable. Every school is unique. Each office I work in is set up differently. I can honestly say that (to this day) when I walk into an office and cannot even find a pen, I quietly begin to panic. If I can't find a pen ... how will I find anything??!???!

What I have learned is that once I become acclimatized to my surroundings, the rest comes easier. I begin to find my groove as I work within the environment that works for someone else.

I have learned to think on my feet. Nine times out of ten, the answers are logical if I just take a moment to think it through.

Not having someone to ask has taught me to think independently and look for my own answers. Ask ... and you (may) forget. Search ... and you will (most likely) remember.

I have been forced to explore our city. I have been to every corner of the city and travelled on roads that I have never seen before.

I had forgotten how scary this was to me until I found myself wanting to leave (yet another new school) at lunch yesterday. I wanted to go in a different direction than I had arrived and suddenly I was afraid of finding my way back.

I knew my fears were unfounded and irrational. But the thought of leaving a trail of bread crumbs so I could find my way back, was not entirely illogical to me at that moment.

Each and every time I push myself out of my comfort zone, I learn. I needed this. I needed to be uncomfortable so that I could get where I needed to go.

As much as things are different in every office and every school ... there is much that remains the same. The phones, the computer system that the school works within and the basics of running an office.

I can see so clearly why I needed this. It is no wonder that I was lost at sea at my first school. I had so much more to learn. Yes, I could have learned a lot of it there. But not this much.

I have learned more than just my job these past months. I have learned to expand my thinking, spread my wings and fly on my own.

They did toss me out of the nest. But it was what I needed. Who knew?

What has life handed you that turned out to be a blessing in disguise?