No. 7 - Adversity

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; because there is not effort without error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly. So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.
-
Theodore Roosevelt

Lately, life has been a little hard. I have been struggling at my workplace trying to deal with all the problems that arise in food service. When I was hired back in March, the reason that a took this job and stayed there was the promise of moving quickly into management. A lot of promises have been made to me that have not been kept. 6 months of working there, 4 general managers and countless employees later I am still not moving as fast as I would like in the company. I still go to work everyday with a smile on my face and work the best that I can, but it is really getting to me. I feel like all my hard work will never be recognized or add up to anything. I realize that the store that I work at has gone through a rough patch but I feel like since I have been there through it all I get the short end of the stick. I cover for people who don't show up for work when I am supposed to be training, wait for promises made by managers who then get fired and wait through countless days of being stuck in a position that I have well surpassed. When Chris and I talked about our future marriage I told him that I wanted to work for the first years of our marriage or until we decided that it was right for us to have children. So logically I didn't want to just have a job when I moved up here I wanted a career. Something that I could see myself doing for the next couple of years. Chipotle, as a company really appeals to me. I still really want to work here. I just have felt for the past 2 months that I have been just wading through so much just to get to where I want to be.
So, like I said previously, this all has made life a little difficult for me. Although I am still on my series of Life is Beautiful posts until I read the above quote I was really struggling about a beautiful subject to post. Mostly because my life lately has been full of what I described above. Then I stopped and realized that what I have been despising and completely and utterly frustrated with, was beautiful. I can do one of two things in my situation. Sit and morn the fact of my hardships, or use what I am going through to make me stronger. All of my experience as a crew member can only help me when I become a manager. When I get there( which I most certainly will) I am going to be the strongest manager I can be. I will come out at the end better, because of what I am going through right now.