You Were Born With Wings. Why Prefer to Crawl Through Life?

It is almost the end of week four and I finally found some time to post so this will be a long one but it definitely won't be a boring one.

Week 1

An investment in knowledge pays the best interest!

Week one was a full week of training to prepare us to go to our placements. During this week, we spoke about our goals for the internship, networking, customer service, managing emotions, time management and public speaking to name a few. I gained a wealth of knowledge that will help with my personal development, and I will be sure to put it in my back pocket and take it with me on my journey through life.

A quitter never wins and a winner never quits!

On the final day of training I got home to a huge surprise. I received an email from Micro Macro and the preview read "apologies for the delay". I thought that I was finally receiving the finance project that I would be working on for the next five weeks. Little did I know, that email was to inform me that I would be working at a daycare!?

That did not sit well with me at all. How could working at a daycare help me to achieve my career goal? I thought about all the screaming babies I would have to endure and contemplated quitting the program. After all, the last time someone left their child in my care it did not end well...I was ten and decided it would be nice to give the child a haircut.

Don't jump to conclusions--there may be a perfect explanation to what you just saw!

I contacted the Interns Relations Officer ready to call it quits. However, I breathed a great sigh of relief when he told me that I did not have to deal with children. It was only then that I opened the project and was reminded that things aren't always the way they appear to be.

Week 2

Excuses are self-imposed roadblocks, detours, and traffic jams that take you off your road to success!

During this week, the daycare was closed so I had a research project to work on at home. I set my own deadline because life is full of uncertainties and why not finish early then have two days to do whatever my heart desires? However, the harsh reality was that I'm not so productive when surrounded by the many distractions in my home.

On Monday, I made up excuses every hour why I should start the next hour. I ended up starting around 2pm then convinced myself Tuesday would be a better day to work on the project, after only working for about an hour. I had to work overtime on Tuesday to make up for my procrastination as that was my own deadline and I was determined to meet it. I decided to call it quits on Tuesday night and finished up on Wednesday morning.

Week 3

We cannot direct the wind but we can adjust the sails!

Tuesday of this week was my first day at my placement and I did not know what to expect. Do I just go and stand up all day and watch the employees? What is the age range of the children? Will I have to endure eight hours of screaming babies? Are the children well behaved? Will I hate it there? These are all questions that ran through my mind as I got ready to go there.

On arrival, the children were finishing up breakfast. I was introduced to everyone and my first task was to supervise the children who finished their breakfast. How hard could it be right? I failed miserably!!! The aunties kept bringing back babies and I didn't even see them leave. 

The day seemed to move so slowly and I couldn't help but look at my watch every minute. I had to change diapers, sing nursery rhymes, read stories, feed babies, put both the babies and toddlers to sleep and run around with them in the HOT sun. The worst part was I had to do it for what I thought at the time would only be three days. 

On Thursday was tour day and my last day. Or so I thought. I was elated that I made it to end without quitting and over the moon that I wouldn't have to be at the daycare ever again. However, I got home to an email from the owner saying she came to meet with me while I was at the tour and she will be back on Monday to meet with me. Needless to say, my week was far from great and one more day at that daycare was enough to ruin the following week as well. 

Week 4 

If you do what you love, you'll never work a day in your life!

On Tuesday the 14th day of August 2018, I left the daycare with the same feeling I had on Thursday, but this time I left with lasting joy. 

The most valuable thing I've learnt from this experience, and the one thing I want you to take away from this post is find what you love and do it or you'll be miserable everyday of your life. I only worked eight hours and those eight hours felt like eight days. I only worked five days and those five days felt like a lifetime. I hated the job so much that I spent the other 16 hours in my day complaining about how much I hated it instead of enjoying my free time. I cannot imagine spending my whole life working eight hours doing something I hate no matter how much money I could make doing it. 

"You can only become truly accomplished at something you love. Don't make money your goal. Instead, pursue the things you love doing, and do them so well that people can't take their eyes off you."

 Maya Angelou