Yesterday, I celebrated my one-year anniversary at my job! It’s kinda blowing my mind that I’ve already been at my job for a year… these past twelve months have flown by in a flash. I still remember how anxious and fearful I was to begin this new career path. Scared out of my mind that I had made the wrong decision and everything was going to be terrible. (I’m quite the optimist, yeah?)
But I have proved myself wrong! Starting this job has been one of the best decisions I’ve made. I love my coworkers. I love my bosses. I love my work. I love that I get to set my own schedule and work independently. Sure, it’s not the most thrilling writing to be doing. (I write SEO website content and most of my clients are home improvement companies. So I write a lot about windows and siding and gutter protection. Thrilling, I tell ya!)
The past twelve months have been such a learning experience for me. I knew it would be, which is both exciting and scary, and I have learned a lot about myself as a writer and as a person.
I will always take criticism – constructive or not – to heart.
So, we go through extensive editing processes with the pages we write. All of our pages must go through a peer editor (and sometimes also a manager’s edits) before it’s sent on to the client. So, I had to grow comfortable with my writing being looked over and scrutinized. The first few times I got edits back from another colleague, it was hard. My pages were all marked up! I had to really calm myself down, read through the critiques, and learn from them. I won’t lie – I still have to physically prepare myself when I get edits back on pages I write, but I’m getting better at seeing the edits for what they are and that they don’t mean I am a horrible writer and have no business in this job. (Yes. This thought pattern happens… often.)
But I can appreciate a great editor.
There are some colleagues who I love/hate getting edits. I love them because they are strong editors who make my pages better and make me think of my writing in a different light… hate them because it’s sometimes hard to read through constructive criticism. But I know this is a part of being a writer. Edits only make me a better writer.
Some days are just not going to be great writing days. Accept it and move on.
There are days when the writing comes easily, and I’m knocking pages off my to-do list left and right. And then there are days when it feels like I forgot how to put words together to form a sentence. Nothing works and it can take me upwards of an hour to write a single 250-word page. As someone who is pretty high-strung and anxiety-prone, I can get myself worked up over these days, worrying that I will never, ever be able to write again and why am I even here I am terrible at this why did they hire me oh my god what if I am fooling everyone?! It’s fun being in my brain sometimes. Good writing days happen. Bad writing days happen. It’s nothing to get in a tizzy about!
It’s okay to not be the best.
I can admit that I am not the best writer on the team. I have some slight perfectionist tendencies, so it can bug me when I’m not the best. But guess what? There will always be someone better. And I don’t have to be the best. It’s not a competition. I just have to be my best. Do what I can to improve my writing and learn from others. At the end of the day, that matters more than being the best.
You don’t have to hate your job.
I hated my previous job. I was micromanaged, talked down to, and I had a boss who made me cry regularly. I was doing work that didn’t make me feel good, I was underpaid, and I was just so ready for something new. I had been told that that kind of work environment was common, and you just had to get used to it. I’m so glad I didn’t listen to that advice because it’s so not true. Not all work environments are like that. You can have supportive bosses. You can have happy work environment. You can love what you do. You don’t have to hate what you do.
What’s one lesson your job has taught you?
Congrats on reaching your one year! That is a great milestone to hit. I can’t believe it’s already been a year, though. I am glad that all the anxiety and stress over the unknown was worth it and that you are happy in your job. I write for my job as well so I can relate to what you say in this post. Getting edits can be so hard and it’s hard to not take them personally or look at them and think, “I am a terrible writer.”
I’m dealing with quite a bit of work-related anxiety and stress right now and some days I am in over my head but I try to remind myself that I am probably harder on myself than my boss or peers are on me. Every time I write something, my initial thought is, “this is dumb” or “this is not sophisticated enough” or “this concept is too obvious to warrant an article” but then i send it out and get great feedback so I know I need to stop questioning myself so much and just trust that I know what I am doing and am worthy of my job.
Congrats on your first year. So glad you’ve found a job that you love!
Congratulations on your one year milestone! I’m with Lisa – cannot believe it’s already been a full year! I’m so glad you took a risk and accepted this job. You seem so much happier now.
I really don’t like my job. I’ve been here almost six years. I have decent benefits, flexibility when I need it, a good boss, and no commute. But my actual job? Don’t love it. It stresses me out but I don’t know what else I could do and keep the same salary/commute.
Happy one year anniversary!
My job has taught me that IT can be cool; the stereotype is true in some but not all cases. It’s also taught me to push my limits. I was never comfortable calling people without knowing who they were but now it’s normal for me. I’ve grown leaps and bounds professionally and I’m so thankful for it. I do have a tough boss but fortunately I like what I do (most days) so I tolerate it… or press the delete button and ignore =)
Congrats on doing what you love with your job!
I learned your coworkers kind of become your family if you’re lucky.
Congrats on your one year anniversary!
My job has taught me that if stand up for myself and ask for what I want (both at work and in life) I might just get it. A couple of weeks ago I negotiated a substantial raise for myself and it felt SO GOOD!
Happy one year work-aversary! So glad you found the right fit for you! I love my job. I love what I do, I love my coworkers and my team. It’s still work. I still wish I could take more holidays and there are definitely days I don’t want to come in because I just don’t feel like it but overall I’m really happy at work and I think that’s so important!
Congrats on a year! I read this whole thing with envy. I’m starting to look for a new job soon, & I very much hope I can find something like this – & that makes me as happy as this seems to make you!
Congrats on the work anniversary! It’s crazy how quickly time can fly.
I love that you love your job! Congrats on one year! Would you ever be willing to edit some blog posts? I feel like I could use some constructive criticism!
A lesson from my job… hmmm. You don’t have to have your own agenda to succeed 😉
I think the biggest lesson I’ve learned is you have to work with people you like. If you have people who are mean, unreasonable, go behind your back, whatever, it just takes all the motivation from whatever you’re doing. I pretty much only had one year like that before my boss left, and the new boss sort of ruined what spark I had. But I know that even at the retail jobs I’ve had, when I’ve gotten along with my supervisors, I’ve enjoyed the work more than when I had a job that maybe I preferred but had a miserable boss.
Your point on not settling for crappy work environments is spot on! There are good opportunities out there and yeah…we need money, and sadly we’re willing to take a lot of abuse for it. But when it comes down to it, it’s really worth it to search and stand up for yourself to spend your days working in an environment that is nurturing and helpful. Congrats on the workiversery and finding a happy work environment!
Congrats on your workaversary and thanks for sharing the lessons you’ve learned along the way. It sounds like your job is helping you a lot with your writing career and that’s awesome!
Happy one year! Man it feels like just yesterday that you started there 🙂 Time flies when you’re having fun!
One year! Hooray! Congrats on this awesome milestone 🙂 I love your realizations about writing, especially about how some days the writing isn’t going to flow. I think it’s super important to accept that, not get discouraged and keep pushing through.