Liberation

Last week Thursday I applied for a policy analyst position with a great employer. Friday I got an email from them asking me to come in for an interview. Monday I interviewed and yesterday afternoon, I received a very cordial rejection email. When I consider the speed with which everything happened, I can't help but to wonder at the idea that I could have been hired for a new and pretty damn great job within the same week of interviewing!

Why can't it be that easy?

They say that anything worth earning is worth struggling for. I believe it - but I don't believe that just because something is worth a struggle means that I should actually have to struggle for it. Thus far in my life, however, if it's worth a struggle, I end up struggling for it. And I'm tired of it - especially when it comes to the job hunt.

I get a daily email of quotes from an organization called Abraham-Hicks. (I highly recommend perusing the website, especially if you're a believer in the power of the law of attraction.) One of the emails sent to me this week was this brief quote from one of their seminars:

Most of you do not believe that it is your natural state of being to be well.

This gave me SO much to think about! Whoever said this was right - at least about most of the people I know. There are so many of us who don't believe that our natural state is a state of well-being - that what's natural is to suffer, whether the suffering is physical, emotional, financial or mental. And up until I read that solitary line I'd say that I too, didn't believe that my natural state of being is a state of well being in ALL aspects of my life. What the hell was wrong with me? Particularly when it comes to job hunting, my belief was ALWAYS that job hunting is supposed to be this sufferable, arduous task of indefinite duration, that my financial situation would be in jeopardy and might even become critical as a result of failures to secure a job within a certain time period. And what has been my situation? I've been job hunting and it's been sufferable and arduous with an end not currently in sight. My financial situation has gone beyond being in jeopardy and is now critical. Surprise surprise.

It's the law of attraction at work. Great minds and not so great minds (like me) understand that our mindset shapes our reality. Sometimes the impact of our mindset is obvious and sometimes its not so obvious - but your view of the world will shape your world.

After receiving the rejection yesterday, I sat for a bit and considered the timeline of events with this particular job and it hit me: if it is that easy for me to be rejected then it is that easy for me to be hired! Of course there are factors in play that are beyond my control that will work against me: the job market, the economy and my competition being the biggest factors. But I have plenty to counter against those factors: my skills, my experience, my degree, and most importantly (in my opinion) my PERSONALITY. (In case you didn't know, I'm pretty fabulous. And who doesn't like fabulous?) I didn't get the position but there was someone, maybe even a few people, who actually got the job and got it as easily and swiftly as I got rejected. Who am I to say that sort of fortune doesn't await me? It can be that easy - and clearly, it was that easy for someone!

I think struggle is important and even necessary at times for true success. We wouldn't really appreciate what we've been given if we got it handed to us - some things just ought to be worked for, like weight loss, or a writing career. Working for it usually means that there are lessons to be learned in the process that will help us grow and maintain or further our success. But there are some things, like landing my first job out of law school, that do not necessarily require struggle to be accomplished - there are some equally as talented and gifted who don't go through a whole lot to accomplish this - and there are some who take awhile to get there. I've stopped questioning the difficulties, however. I've learned some lessons here too - and there may be more for me to learn. I have come to see as a result of this most recent rejection that I can make my experiences as positive or as negative and as difficult or as easy as I want them to be. I am in control of how my experiences impact my life - my view of the world shapes my world. And I feel liberated.

(And I would have never guessed that I would have gotten all that from being rejected!)

P.S. Liberation aside, I STILL can't help but to wonder how much longer I'll have to actually hunt...