God Is Always Hiring: 50 Lessons for Finding Fulfilling Work by Regina Brett

Author:Regina Brett [Brett, Regina]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Published: 2015-04-06T23:00:00+00:00

Lesson 27

Clear the path for the person who comes after you.

What advice do you wish you had known before starting your career?

Jessica Thomas answered that question in a handbook she wrote called “Advice for College to My Little Sister.” She typed it up and gave it to her younger sister as a high school graduation gift.

Jessica was 23 and a graduate student in biomedical engineering at Ohio State University when she decided to clear the path for her sister. Rachel was 18 and an incoming freshman at Ohio Wesleyan. They’re both from North Olmsted, Ohio. Jessica took everything she learned in four years and condensed it into five pages.

“The most difficult moment is when your parents leave,” Jessica wrote. “But remember, it’s like when you were 2 and were left with a babysitter for the first time—you freak out for about 10 minutes, then you’re fine.” When your parents drive away, you panic for a few minutes in fear: “Oh, no, I’m on my own.” Then the excitement kicks in, and it becomes “Oh, wow, I’m on my own!”

The first year you can feel lost and confused. The second year, you own the place. You catch yourself telling your parents, “I’m going home,” and by “home,” you mean your dorm.

As the protective older sib, Jessica wanted to make the transition easier for her sister. It was all the stuff she wished she would have known. Reading Jessica’s handbook made me wish I had both received one from my four older sibs and written one for my six younger sibs.

After I got pregnant at 21 and dropped out of college, I worked a series of jobs to pay the rent and ended up as a secretary. I’ve never forgotten the day my oldest sister, Therese, challenged me to finish college. She did it with one single sentence: “Do you want to be a secretary the rest of your life?”

Now, if you love being a secretary and are great at it, your answer might be a joyful, resounding “Yes!” But I sucked at it and hated the job. Still, I got mad at her for making me feel so small. How dare she insult me. The truth is, no one can make you feel small. What she did was remind me that I felt small because I was settling for something smaller than my own dream.

We weren’t taught how to dream. We were taught how to survive. My dad never got to dream. He dropped out of school after eighth grade to support his family after they lost everything in the Depression. He spent his life carrying shingles and spouting up ladders in the hot sun. In the winter, he fixed furnaces full of asbestos, which ended up killing him. He had hoped his five sons would take over the Brett Sheet Metal family business. They didn’t want any part of that backbreaking work that paid so little and took so much out of them.

My mom never went to college. She worked as a nurse’s aide until she met my dad.

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