To give myself credit would be a bit of a refresher and a chance to allow myself to step back, take a deep breath, and know that everything will be okay and that what I am doing now is good and it is all working towards my greater purpose. To just acknowledge the miles I've gone, the distances I've traveled, the lessons I've learned, and to just soak it all in and really take a moment to analyze all that this year has been for me.
Now, the part where I am a bit skeptical is that I don't want to give myself too much credit. I don't know where that line is that is too much, but hey who was ever hurt by erring on the side of caution? So, I should give credit to myself for the life I've been living now ever since every change that has occurred this year, but also just know that this is not the end and there is plenty of work and effort to be put in to become more and to just push myself to greater and higher heights.
So what's all the perspective I say since I've only talked about the #SpeakLife post so far? Well let me tell you. Today, around 3pm, so right before my shift ended, a new-ish person came in for work. Apparently he had worked through December and January during his winter break from college. Then he hasn't worked since, and now that his semester is over he wanted to come back. The perspective comes from realizing how much I have learned, if nothing else, for my job. Even if we say this guy worked for 2 full months, I'm only leading him by 1 month. But after asking what he knows and what he doesn't, I have so much more knowledge I thought was common. I mean, maybe it is common and he's just out of practice or he's just never done it, but it was eye-opening.
When these changes of social distancing, reduced hours, and whatever else, I just accepted it all as a fact of life and just moved on to the next day, to the next week, and (semi-unfortunately because of how long this is going on for) to the next month. Everything I had learned about becoming more efficient at my job and learning how to perform more tasks (enough to the point where I can technically run the entire front of house by myself, just that I won't because I'd be quickly overwhelmed) was just something I had to do. But I hadn't realized something: a lot of this I probably wouldn't have learned if I had operated under "normal" circumstances. Without the reduction of staff and hours and just everything about this pandemic, I would probably just be wrapping, maybe sprinkling, or running register. Because things have changed, I now know how to grill, how to slice, how to make bread, how to make tuna, how to take orders, write up hot sub tickets, take phone orders, etc. And in comparison, the new fella says he didn't know how to answer the phone, take phone orders, never sliced nor was taught to, and didn't know how to write tickets.
Now, I don't say all of this to make myself sound like I am way better than him, but it was surprising how much I had to learn because of all these changes. He last worked under normal conditions and did what I would've done had everything been normal. Because of the abnormalities of life now, I do so much more than before, effectively fast tracking the expansion of my skillset.
I mean 3 months ago, I wouldn't have been able to slice and prepare all these subs by myself. I did all of this today (for a regular catering order) in approximately 30-35 minutes. Not the fastest, I'd have to assume, but it's not a terrible time for someone with relatively low experience/short time since starting my job.
What I'm trying to say is that I underestimated what I have been doing all these past few months. I should be proud of where I've gotten to. I should give myself some credit for all that I do. It's been a crazy year, but a year full of growth and while I might very quickly trade it away for the year I had originally planned for, I am grateful for everything that I have experienced and learned, both about the world and about myself.
One final point that sort of ties into all of this is that we were talking about what makes someone a leader, as part of a 7 day devotional my dad has been reading to us every night at dinner. In it, it says something about how people who are leaders sometimes don't even think they are leaders until someone outright says it to them. That they have their influential power from earning respect and putting in the hardwork to work for others, serve others, and to climb ever upwards. I found that I am sort of like that. I never see myself as a leader because no one ever told me I am a leader. But I have been told that I was a leader and that I could always work on improving to be a better one. So there are just many things that I've never realized about myself, or the things happening around me, until something or someone says something.
It's all about realizing where you were and all of it in comparison to where you are now. I know that I have a lot to learn and a lot to work on to truly be greater and to truly be different than the way I was a few months ago, but there is definitely a level of progress and now I just got to keep on pressing forward. To move on to a new and better life. It's a constant climb, but it will all be worth it in the end.
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