Just Keep Swimming, Just Keep Swimming

Just keep swimming – just keep swimming.  No I have not started swimming.  Anyone who has seen Finding Nemo knows what I’m talking about.

 Four and a half years ago I started the job that I currently have.  I had just moved to Colorado to be closer to my mom but also to start a new career path.  Before I moved to CO I lived in Las Vegas and was a Retail Manager for M.A.C Cosmetics.  Anyone that thinks just because I worked in makeup I had a “fun” or “easy” job think again.  It was a lot of work you basically run your own business.  And then there is the working with the public aspect.  Women are not nice all the time even when picking out something as simple as a lip gloss they can be mean, nasty, and just plain rude.  Now don’t get me wrong there were plenty of customers that were nice and they are what get you though the day when you are helping a bridezilla.  The whole point is that I needed to get out of retail.  A good portion of my job was inventory management, metric reporting, and managing a team.  So when I moved I was able to highlight those skills and jump into corporate America.  I was very excited to finally (first time in my life) have a job that was Mon-Friday, weekends and holidays off and work at a place that did not have a food court.  But the excitement quickly wore off.  This was a whole new world and I had NO idea what I was doing.  I would go home and cry to Joe telling him that I have no idea what I have just gotten myself into.  Now it just so happens that my sister works for the same company but in a totally different department.  She would help me with what she could but because our jobs are so different there was only so much she could do.  About 2 months after I started I was having a particularly bad day.  The kind of day where I felt like learning this job was like learning how to rebuild a car engine (something that I know nothing about) from a book but the book was in Japanese - FYI I cannot speak Japanese.  My sister walks into my cube and places a stuffed Dory doll right next to my computer.  She says to me “just keep swimming, just keep swimming”.  I immediately knew what she was talking about since I had seen Finding Nemo.  Of course I start to cry (I'm a big sappy mess sometimes).  It was so sweet and helped me so much.  I’m not going to lie and tell you that at that exact moment everything made sense and I loved my job -  NOT.  This is not an ABC After School Special (if you grew up in the 80’s you know what I’m talking about).  But it did help me realize that I was not the only one on the planet that ever had a new job that was challenging to learn.  If I just keep trucking along every day will get a little better.  And it did – until this past week.  My dept has taken on a few new projects the past couple of weeks and the stress has taken me back to those first few months (ok who am I kidding –the first year – once again who am I kidding – the first 2 years) where I felt lost.  I was talking to my boss yesterday about this very thing and while I’m on the phone with her I glance down on my monitor stand and see Dory and “Just Keep Swimming, Just Keep Swimming” pops right back into my head.  This too shall pass – it won’t be this hard every week.  And as stupid as I may sound the Just Keep Swimming philosophy is something that I am going to use with my exercise, diet, temper, mood, annoying dogs named Tiger, and the asshole that just cut me off. 

P.S. I started week 4 of C25K and eff me its hard but I got through it and I was so proud of myself this morning!!  Just Keep Swimming!