Starting out.

I have these ongoing struggles about what to do with my life, but I seem to have satisfied some of my more motherly instincts by managing college age and twentysomethings at the shop as they start off on their own life adventures.  I try to ingrain specific qualities in them. Whatever stepping stones they encounter as they shoot for their career and life goals, there are ALWAYS opportunities in whatever job they find themselves doing.  With THIS job, they can learn solid skills and techniques to advance and move towards their long term desires.  Every new lesson is another moment of experience to discuss in future professional interviews in their field.  I try to work with these girls individually, focusing on their background and how they could incorporate these lessons toward another one.  Am I trying to do too much?  I don't know.  Maybe the young kids could really care less.  But I'd like to think optimistically.

One of my key holders is a fashion designer, and while she gets stressed about her leadership abilities I try to encourage her in continuing the practice because it will only help her down the road as she leads her interns and assistants.  Coordinating and balancing and delegating gets easier with practice.  It's a rotating door of other employees as they each land their much desired 9-5 money-making gigs and I cannot lie and say the turnover doesn't bother me.  It does.  Tremendously so.  I sacrifice my own days off and free time to keep the operation running smoothly and cover all the shifts they don't want to do.  I know the owners appreciate what I'm doing, but I'm not always so sure the young girls do.  But hopefully the interview after interview after interview that I'm conducting will yield an assistant manager to complement my endeavors of teaching these girls life skills.

And hopefully I can actually take a vacation.  Or sign up for a French class at the Alliance Francaise.  Or take a jewelry making class.  Something to balance MY own life!

Or maybe the stress of it all will force me to find something new.  Again.

Today is my day off, and I'm feeling some creative surges of some sort.  It's my meditation.  And I need it.