Everything that Rises...

I confess, I don't think I'll ever get over the fun of hearing myself on the radio. I like to know that strangers who are driving home from work heard my words. Yes, my ego is alive and kicking.

But just for checks and balances, I've got a brand new job where I'm back to beginner's mind, which counters any unnecessary ego-puffing. Not knowing, for me, equals shame (sound familiar, Steph?)and I just have to get past that. I feel, though, that I've earned a little karma here. I have always been kind and patient with new employees at places I regularly frequent. It is hard to be new and there is nothing guaranteed to freak out a new person more than pressuring them with your impatience (hint,hint, as the holidays hurtle toward us like rabbits in heat). Customers often just want their purchases, and fast, and I don't know about you, but until something is ingrained and rote in me, I can't multi-task, and my focus zooms down to the size of a pinhead. But on only my second day of training I noticed that certain tasks already came easier, like working the computerized cash register, and being able to both answer the phone and nod as if I know something to incoming customers. So I know it's only a matter of time before I'm up to speed. Of course, everything is going to change come Monday because the store is finally moving into the front side of the new building, so it will be like a new workplace. There will be many more things for me not to know and to get wrong and to feel uncertain about.

But it's better than getting too comfortable in my gilded castle on high :)