If At First You Don't Succeed, Try, Try Again.

    When I packed up my life in West Michigan to move back to my hometown this summer, I had absolutely no idea what I would end up doing for work. It was all so unexpected, and very sudden. I put in my two-weeks with my current employer at the time, and began packing up my belongings - picking around all my roommate's possessions and trying not to make too big of a mess. I had never done anything so sporadic or unplanned in my life. But when you're in a place where absolutely nothing, and I mean nothing, is going right, what do you have to lose?

    Just as quickly as I had managed to stuff the five years worth of life-accumulation into boxes, we had it all loaded into my dad's commercial van and toted across the state. It was done. There was no looking back at the things that brought me down. There was no possibility of continuing on the meaningless path I had somehow managed to get stuck on. I had left every single thing I knew about my life behind, in the city that taught me some of my greatest pleasures and undoubtedly, my worst hardships. I took what I needed with me, and everything else became but a mere memory in a matter of hours. And with that, I gave myself a chance to start completely fresh. A new beginning that now, I'm sure, was the best possible thing I could have done for my future.

   At the end of July, just over a month from the day I moved back East, I landed a job in Logistics with the Detroit Media Partnership. With this job, I took the very first steps into my career in Supply Chain - which I couldn't be more pleased about. Quite surprisingly to myself, I was chosen for this position without having finished my degree, yet (although I'm so incredibly close.) I feel blessed to be making decent money, doing something that I enjoy and that I know will lend well to my career decisions in the future - all before finishing school. While I am not taking classes currently, I will be enrolling for the Winter 2015 semester for online classes through Grand Valley State and on-campus classes at Wayne State.

   As for right now, I'm doing all that I can to learn the in's and out's of the newspaper industry, the importance of our advertisers, and of course the Operations - which I am most heavily involved. I am so enjoying this learning experience and find the whole process to be quite fascinating. My largest and most important duty, to date? Creating the packaging plans - what inserts will go into what papers, when the machines will run and for how long and ensuring that what goes out to our customers is correct. The responsibility is massive and I feel the pressure coming from all directions. And let me tell you, its an amazing feeling. For the first time in over a year, I feel like I am serving a purpose...like I'm working towards something...like I'm doing something right. 

While the first few weeks of training were a bit slow-moving, I'm starting to really get acquainted with the duties tasked to me and the reasoning behind everything I do. Each day, I find myself interacting with a new process and multiple new people. I'm starting to feel like I have a presence. While I know this will likely be short-lived, whenever the phone on my desk rings I get excited...someone actually needs my help. Someone is purposely seeking me out...me, the new girl. I like to think that means I'm doing something right. I'm receiving emails from other departments seeking my assistance, people seem to understand my responsibilities and what I can and cannot help them with and my boss is watching over my shoulder less and less. I'm gaining confidence in myself and finally feel like I'm doing something meaningful with my time.

    Today, I was given a radio at work so that I can easily communicate with the people in my department, as well as the departments we interact with. Being privy to the conversations going on around me has really opened my eyes and given me insight into how others perceive the processes and how so many people play different roles to ensure an effective work day. I can now see a bit more of the bigger picture. 

I am really enjoying my journey, venturing into an industry I know nothing about. Although it is a struggling industry, it still has a lot to offer and creates a challenge - which I always love. I look forward to the day that I am able to offer my own perspective and suggestions as to how we can remain with the times and adapt as customer expectations evolve. A fresh start, a brand new challenge and a completely different way of life has given me the opportunity to find excitement, again. I will continue to absorb the new information surrounding me until my next challenge arises. The unknown no longer frightens me - I actually welcome it.