1 year and counting
A year of working, travelling vicariously, facing the pandemic and lots of reflection…
In the few years prior to 2019, I had interned with many places, had multiple learning experiences and seen a lot. These include a de-addiction center, a school and a couple of NGOs. When I looked at my resume a year ago I felt proud, because for a person who hadn’t officially worked for a single day of her life, I had achieved a lot. I think sometimes we forget who we used to be so it’s hard to reflect on how much we have grown. So whenever I would feel a little dejected or experienced mild symptoms of a quarter life crisis, I would look at my resume and feel better — I guess it reminded me of some of my proud moments!
And then, on October 7, 2019, I got my first official appointment letter. And that means that today I finish my first year of working in the travel and tourism industry. Very honestly, I have no idea where this past year has gone. I am sitting here thinking, ‘Has it really been a year already?’ When I joined the company, I thought this was my 6 months plan — I’ll try my hand at this and after 6 months, I’ll try someone knew. I was never really the kind of person who had career goals. I never considered myself to be ambitious either. I always thought I wouldn’t be the best employee — I prefer to work alone, I take time to learn and I’m not the most adjusting person. And while I don’t think a lot of this has changed (well… I still don’t have career goals), I am not going anyway!
I started the beginning of my ‘career’ taking it slow… spent a couple months learning, and found that I want to do more. So I guess while I describe myself in some ways as ‘not the best employee’, I also have strengths. I hard work, I’ll do anything you tell me to do, I am dedicated, I am respectful and I am always eager to learn more. I think in this case, I also respect the company I work for and I look up to the people who run it. Some may say that that’s a personally biased opinion but I would disagree.
Once I started taking up more responsibility, I learnt how much goes into working in an industry which is not always easy. And I saw how much stress and strength it takes to run it and run it with as much dignity and grace as my bosses have. I think I can safely say that I work for one of the most ethical companies in the market. If there is one advice I would give to someone who is looking for a job, I would say: find a job where you look up to your boss — it is possible. It’s a myth that everyone hates their boss — it’s not true. At least it’s never been true for me!
When you have this kind of admiration for the people you work for, it’s hard to find your own place sometimes. It took me many months to find the courage to voice my opinion. But it happened and that was a good day — the day I knew that I wasn’t just doing what I was told but also had something to bring to the table — something new and fresh and exciting! And when I was starting to find my individual place in all of this and finally started to feel that I had something to offer, the pandemic hit us. Personally, I don’t think I can complain. Professionally though, the travel industry was hit hard. And that’s definitely not something you want to experience in your first official working year — to be working from home with no guests arriving for more than 6 months now.
Still, I feel okay… maybe not completely centred but confident that we’ll be okay — we’ll survive. I guess I have reached the stage of ‘we’ and not ‘me working for them’. But then again, I don’t think there was any ‘me and them’ when it comes to this organisation — here, I’ll accept the personally biased stance… it’s been a much longer association than just 1 year. As a child, I thought this is exactly what I would do… actually as a child I thought I would head this company by the age of 21. As a teenager, I decided that I didn’t want to walk in the same footsteps as the people who are so close to me. And I think over this year I have figured out a way for my footsteps to peacefully co-exist with theirs.
I wish I could say I have achieved a lot, but that’s not true. I believe that I have so much more to learn, so much more to do and so much more to be proud of. This is just the beginning… and maybe that’s why it doesn’t feel like it’s been a year already — because this isn’t my 6 months plan… it’s my life, and someone once said, “well, life is long!”
