I feel one of the worst things about me is that I tend to be a passive person. Whenever I have a crush, he will never know. He won’t just not know; he won’t even know I exist, because I won’t talk to him. I’m that shy and reserved. And I’m that passive – never actively responding to my desires or passions. Passive, shy, reserved. I don’t think that’s a good combination.
I also tend to get very excited about all sorts of things, from dancing, to playing sports, to surfing, to working on a new project. But then I’d somehow convince myself to not do any of them. So I will always end up staying at home eating, sleeping or watching reruns.
Then something happened to me recently that made me really think about what to do with this passiveness of mine. I have been applying for part-time jobs because I just wanted to see if I’d get it. I have had a few vacation jobs before but I didn’t enjoy those jobs. I think I have never been the routine kind of person, so part-time jobs probably suit me best.
On the morning of the interview, I was still reading a book by Susan Ee. And when I read a book, it doesn’t get put down unless my eyes need iron pegs to keep them open. I think for me, stories are an addiction of mine in some sort of way. My interview was at 10:00 am; I was still in bed at 9:15 am reading my book. I didn’t even know if there were buses to get me to the interview on time. I didn’t care about the interview and was so close to just skipping it. I’ve never skipped an interview before because it seemed unprofessional. But I really wanted to finish the book.
I made up my mind to hurry up and get ready, skip breakfast and read my book at the bus stop. I would leave the fate of my interview in the hands of the person who created the bus schedule. I also had the interviewer’s contact details on hand in case I had to cancel the interview. The bus that came got me to the interview on time and for some odd reason, I got the job. To me it was a whirlwind process because I went into the interview completely unprepared – didn’t even remember what I wrote in my CV. Then they gave me a test which I had 25 minutes to do. I’m pretty sure my answers were terrible because I don’t like elaborating and gave very short answers. But for some reason, they hired me.
(Image credit: http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/2486480)
And every day I go to the job grateful that I attended the interview and that they chose me. The job allows me to have a bit more financial freedom while finishing up my studies. But what I really enjoy is that the job allows me a lot of flexibility as to when I want to work. I somehow developed an understanding with my boss and the working environment is the best one so far that I’ve worked in.
This got me thinking, I would never have got all of this if I didn’t put myself out there. Think about how many times good things have happened to you. Now think about how many of those times were when you were in bed watching series or reading a novel. I’m pretty sure it was close to 0%.
As long as you put yourself out there, good things will come. It might not be immediate, it might not be soon but it will come. Don’t be afraid of rejection. You know how they say it takes 10 000 hours to make you an expert on something? Well, put in 10 000 hours to make you an expert on getting rejected. Trust me, you won’t feel a thing after the 12th “I regret to inform you…”.
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