On the 25th of September, I walked into work the same way I usually do: with as brave a face as I could muster, a little more coffee than really necessary, and looking forward to finishing up at 11 PM so that I can get up first thing in the morning to open.

About 30 seconds after clocking in, while receiving the information of tasks for the day, my front end supervisor told me “congratulations”.

I was confused: I had been being considered for a minor promotion (more on that in a separate post), but nothing had progressed; I knew I wasn’t leaving as no other company had touched base with me about interviews or offers; my wife wasn’t/isn’t pregnant. The only thought was that our 4-year-old had just started pre-school for kids with special needs, an accomplishment not only for him, but for us as parents for not dying of total fear.

It wasn’t that, though.

She informed me that it was my work anniversary: the anniversary of the day I joined the company at one of their stores.

Those who know me and what I have had to endure for the last three and a half to four years will understand that this was an anniversary that I was never keen on celebrating. But, despite the cliché, our situation seems to always have some sort of silver lining. A positive countering the obvious negative. For three straight years, I have been denied or rejected for opportunities back in the field I miss so much, yet I have not been unemployed for three straight years. But that’s only one of plenty off examples.

The point is that, no matter how bad we may think we have it, there is still something good coming out of it so long as you stay curious, keep working hard and be the best person you can be, while also remembering that you are doing things for more than just yourself. You can see what I mean by reading my LinkedIn post about it here.