The importance of making it alone
The last couple of months have been chock-full of learning curves. There are so many curves, it's a damn roller coaster.
Why? Because all my life, I've worked as part of a team. And for the first time in 26 years of working, I'm alone for the majority of the time.
Going in, I thought it would be no biggie. After all, I've worked in my current job as an x-ray technologist for 7 years already. Smugly, I thought I had seen it all.
Boy, was I ever wrong.
I never realized how much I relied on other people. Not necessarily to do the job, but as moral support.
Need a second opinion? No problem, I could always ask someone.
The equipment isn't working properly? Ask Tim*.
*This is the real name of a wonderful guy I worked with at my last job. He is the most helpful man you'll ever meet, and was our go-to-person for everything.
Can't figure something out with your computer? Ask everybody around you, one of them will know something you don't.
And so on.
Now, I have to figure out every problem by myself. As thorough as my orientation was, there are tons of things you can't prepare for. Equipment will act up in unusual ways. Patients will behave unexpectedly. You will make the silliest mistakes that nobody could have foreseen, and then you have to find a way to fix them.
The kicker is that you have to do this in the middle of the night, because the weirdest mistakes you'll make always happen at night, when you got woken up from a sound sleep at 2am and called into the hospital.
You know what I learnt?
When forced to rely on yourself, you will discover sources of ingenuity you didn't know you possessed.
In the last two months of work, I had to solve more problems by myself than in the last two years, and the great thing is: I did it.
It may take a while, and sometimes I won't be able to figure it out right at that moment, but the next morning I will wake up and have a solution for the problem. It's hugely satisfying, and what's even better:
It's given me a burst of new confidence in my work and in myself.
This principle applies to all aspects of our life. While humans are social creatures and most of us thrive in the company of others, the importance of knowing you can make it alone is huge.
You will never find out what you are capable of of you don't put it to the test. It's uncomfortable, it's tough, and you will stumble, but you know what?
You will come out a much stronger, more confident person.
I'm all for asking for help. Nobody knows it all, and I firmly believe that you can learn something from every person you encounter, no matter who they are. We will grow and become wiser if we are open to learning and listening to others.
But knowing that you will be fine when nobody is around? That's priceless.
It will help you make better decisions in life if you don't rely on someone else's help.
Too many of us stay in bad relationships because we don't think we can make it alone.
Too many of us stay in jobs we dislike because we believe we can't do anything else.
Too many of us are stuck in lives that don't make us happy because we don't think we are strong enough to change them.
But we are.
All of us are capable of so much more than we think we are!
Here's your reminder for this week (and always):
xoxo Miriam
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Vol. 17