success. a celebration.
"And here he was a little halfling from the Shire, a simple hobbit of the quiet countryside, expected to find a way where the great ones could not go, or dared not go. It was an evil fate."
In this whole SUUUUUPPPERRR fun month of job searching, I've focused in on two things:
1. I've embraced the intricate words and worlds of J.R.R. Tolkein via the Lord of the Rings because a job interview doesn't look so scary in comparison to a lethal vacation to Mordor....
2. I've studied up on my strengths and character so I can have something to offer in job interviews other than my clammy hand shakes.
In preparation for a job interview I had today, I studied a great resource one of my favorite professors gave me about a year ago: 50 Questions You Might Be Asked in an Interview. It's actually one of the most frightening and practical resources I've ever been given...thanks Matt Visser.
One of the questions was, "How would you define success?"... and, of course, my inner motivational speaker began to stir.
Success has a simple answer to me, just as Frodo was a simple hobbit with great ambitions. To me, success is potentially failing at that which we set out to do, yet it is the very courage we step out with. It is being willing even if the end is never reached or uncertain. It is going where others can't or don't. It's journeying forward even if things will never be the way they were before. It is the small voice we have to fight to hear in the depths of our soul. It is not the applause at the end of the show, it is the willingness to perform. It is not having a ring put on my finger, it's that I decided to jump into something potentially risky, painful, and wonderful. It's not getting the job as some faked-up personality, but showing up for the interview with my strengths, weaknesses, dreams, ambitions, and story laid bare for all to see.
This week I'm choosing to celebrate the success of an interview done (with clammy hands), a tough conversation had, and simply saying hello to my neighbors I desperately want to get to know and love on.