As I write this post, I am unemployed. I lost my job in December of last year, just in time for the holidays. I now spend my days online looking for job leads and dealing with the stress of financial hardship and not having a job.
I also think about the circumstances surrounding my untimely termination. I had worked in a call center, which was okay at first but as the years passed, the job became more stressful and less enjoyable, and towards the end, I no longer enjoyed coming to work each morning. That’s quite a departure from the attitude I had when I first started working there. Back then it felt good to have a job I liked and a steady paycheck.
Looking back on it now, I realize the job really didn’t change much during the 3 years I was with the company. What did change was my attitude. Gradually the thrill of starting a new job wore off and in its place was a ho-hum attitude that illuminated my job in a different light even though the job itself was still the same.
Part of it was the company not offering enough opportunities for me to work my way up, but the rest of it was me. Instead of continuing to appreciate the fact I had a job, I began to find things to hate about my job instead and chose to dwell on those thoughts that altered my perception of the job itself. Over time those hateful thoughts succeeded in making me hate my job. Instead of it being a steady job with a paycheck, it was now the worst job I ever had. Soon I hated coming to work each morning and I began to hate the job itself. These hateful thoughts worked their way into my work and the managers took notice before letting me go.
During my last few days of employment, I was chatting with a fellow agent in a chat room used by other agents seeking help with resolving technical issues their customers were having. This fellow agent had been with the company as long as me, maybe longer. I had posted the usual complaints about the hectic workload in the chat room and she responded with some good advice that I will always remember. She said not to sweat the small stuff and that being happy at work helps the day go faster. Being unhappy involves thinking of what it is that causes this lack of happiness and that only adds to the overall emotional burden. Before I could put this advice to work, the human resources department reached their decision and decided to terminate my employment. Never again will I take for granted coming to work without wondering if this will be my last day.
And now here I am at home, looking for another job. Whatever this next job may be, I will not forget the lessons learned the hard way. And for my sake, I will definitely treat each day at work as if it’s my first day at work.
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