It's been one full year, and I made it.
In retrospect, I had many reasons for deciding to move to Korea. My aunt. The chance to travel. Tae Kwon Do. Not to mention, I needed a job. Specifically, I needed to work somewhere for one full year. See, after graduating from college, I hadn't worked a full year at any one workplace. I bounced around from job to job. Mostly because I wasn't very good in the field I saught employment in. But, that's another story.
My parents wondered why, and nagged me with questions about my jobs. Although they were concerned, it sometimes felt as though they were attacking me. I was in denial too. From my perspective, I was always landing on my feet. For my mom and dad, I was always landing back at home, which is where they didn't want me to be.
After college, my greatest success seemed to come when I landed a job with Axium International. They paid $15 and hour, which was a lot of money at the time. Sure, I was living at home, but I was also saving the money I earned. It was all to give me a headstart into my future. Everything was going smoothly, until I decided I no longer wanted to work for them. I simply stopped showing up for work. They later sent me a letter regarding my absence. The letter was sent to inform me that I had been fired. It didn't matter to me, since I had already made up my mind.
Working for Axium wasn't a cakewalk. Once, I worked two sixteen hour shifts back to back in the same week. Their employees were described as being the most overworked people in their industry. After that, I decided I didn't want that in my future. Sure, the money I earned from overtime was great. Also, I envied the senior employees who were spending everynight there racking up overtime! Yet, that just wasn't how I wanted to spend my time.
The Los Angeles Times recently reported that that company is now defunct. It went bankrupt. I can't help to think it was partly caused by the employees who were bleeding the company dry. Those people who were my co-workers and bosses lost their jobs. :( Anyway, I guess I can look back at that experience and say that I got out before the bottom collapsed.
When I made my decision to come to here, I knew I had good reasons. I'm happy that I successfully completed this year, and have many more years to look forward to. It's a relief too. I began to wonder if I was cut out for any type of job after being fired from so many.
My accomplishment this year has replenished my belief in myself. For the future challenges ahead, I will need it. But, I'm prepared and welcome them.
-Amen
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