New Year, New Chapter

I read somewhere recently that a new year is a blank slate. An opportunity to "start over," develop new habits, make new choices, do things a little differently in our lives. Many times these are conscious choices that we make and put forth the effort to stick with. Sometimes new opportunities find us. I was recently fortunate enough to have such an opportunity present itself to me, and in a few days I'll be starting a new chapter with new employment.

For 3 years I've been an advertising rep with a local newspaper. Like any job, it's had it's ups and downs. There have been times when I wanted to cry, walk out and never look back. There have also been plenty of times that I've laughed with my coworkers and clients. I've met a lot of people and learned a lot of things with this job, and in some ways I'm sad to say goodbye. But I'm excited for the opportunity to grow and expand my skills, push myself and step that much further outside of my comfort zone. 

This afternoon I spent 4 hours absorbing information pertaining to my new position, learning an overview of what responsibilities I'm expected to handle. 4 hours is a long time to absorb information and this position has a much wider scope than my current position. A few separate times during my training, I found myself wondering if I'd be able to fill the shoes that were being left behind, if I'd be able to live up to the expectations, and keep up with the job. During my drive home, as the information was swirling around inside my head, and the doubts started to get louder, I stopped myself. I decided that instead of thinking "I hope I can do it," I need to tell myself "I am going to do it." I have the capability of handling the duties, I just need to learn the ropes and gather the confidence in myself that I will succeed. 

These are powerful words to me. You can't slide through life with positive thinking and nothing else, but a positive outlook will pull you further than negativity. When I was young and I didn't want to go somewhere with my family (which was quite often), my father would say to me, "Well, if you think you're not going to have fun, you certainly won't!" It took me a lot of years to fully understand this. Now I tell my kids, "You can choose whether to be happy or not. Whether you'll have fun or not." Although my perception has shifted since my teenage days, I do still have to remind myself that my attitude towards anything has a big effect on the outcome of the situation. 

It's going to take some time to get acclimated to my new position, and there's going to be a big learning curve, but these things are not insurmountable. It is possible, it is doable, and I can and will succeed. That's all there is to it.