Appreciate Your Job

If no one has ever told you this before, I’m telling you now: always appreciate your job. That is perhaps one of the most cliche company lines people reiterate all the time, but it is absolutely true. You need to appreciate your job. Where is this coming from you might ask. Well I recently had like a one millionth epiphany of this when I was working at my job last weekend and something clicked for the one billionth time.

First off I’m not here to shame anybody for any ill will they carry about their place of employment. Working your job or career or whatever provides you with security and income can be the most complicated part of your day. We all know the reasons why: your job can be physically, mentally and emotionally exhausting. You’re working long hours and probably for pay that seems like nowhere near enough right? Not to mention your coworkers.

There really is nothing like working with crappy coworkers. You know the ones that always complain about how difficult the job is, they always whine about even the simplest of things. They love making world sized drama out of pebble sized issues. Of course there’s the gossipy two faced back biters, the ones that are always in the middle of the workplace drama, sometimes to the extent that gets people fired or resented by the rest of the workplace.

These issues are the reasons why movies like Office Space were made. Yeah that movie is a comedic take, but when you get beyond the laughs the movie is pure truth. Yes we all have annoying coworkers, yes we work long and exhausting hours and yes our bosses can be serious pains in the pinky toe. Nevertheless, we still should be appreciative of our employment in the storm.

Though we hate having these problems in the workplace we also have to be mindful that someone else would kill to have a workplace to have problems in and are near death because they don’t have a job. I’m not saying you have to like everything about your job just to be appreciative of it, but before you curse it to hell, think about how much more difficult life would be if you didn’t have it or in my case, remember how hard life was when you didn’t have one.

When I was in the middle of my college tenure working to graduate and get a degree I ended up being out of school for over a year and spent nearly six month trying to find a job. Even coming from the rough childhood I had this was still very difficult for me, but I come from parents who never gave up no matter how hard life was and I followed their example and kept going.

Eventually I did get a job working in fast food at Bojangles and though that is the type of job most people typically dread I was so happy to have a job and made it my sole mission to be as great at my job as possible. I’m not exaggerating when I say it felt like the greatest thing ever. Of course everything in my workplace wasn’t perfect, but that never bothered me in the bigger picture because I always remembered when I was at my worst and how blessed I was to come along way.

With this little job I had I was able to rest at night knowing that I had money in my pocket and chance to get back in school on the path to who I was meant to be and eventually I did just that and even graduated college, earning a degree and I wouldn’t have been able to do any of it without the support of my job.

Yes, a job that was far from perfect and definitely had it’s not so lovely days, but I reminded myself that not having a job was worse and I also kept my mind focused on growth. I knew that I would one get a better job and end up in a better place, which I did, but that in part had to come from me appreciating where I already was.

That’s the other big point. No matter how sticky your situation, you have to appreciate the job you have if you want a better one. Of course life isn’t always fair, but if you don’t learn to be content where you already are, then you won’t be content wherever else it is that you’re headed. Being grateful means realizing that you already have abundance and the thing about abundance is when you realize you have it, you’ll always have more.

Fast forward to my present day I have moved on to a better job life, but I wouldn’t have made it here if I didn’t appreciate what I already had before. Bottom line is appreciate your job and know that no matter how hard it gets, you’re still blessed to have it.