I see the struggle every day. Finding a job is the easy part; being able to keep a job is the hard part. You worry that you’re not good enough. You set yourself up for failure because in your eyes, you already see yourself failing. The depression and anxiety set in. You feel that pressure of trying to live up to certain expectations. I see the constant fear of letting down those close to you. I see the eye rolls of those who don’t understand what you’re going through. The worst part is, is that you don’t even know what you’re doing wrong. Each time you start a new job, you’re passionate and you excel at your work. Those you work with are giving you positive feedback- until the day they say it’s time for you to go. It happens more often than you’d like. Then the process starts back over, and you’re back at the drawing board, searching for a company who’ll hire someone with such a job history.

You’re not alone. A quick search on the internet brings up dozens upon dozens of stories of people just like you who are sick and tired of the same old routine: getting a job, working, getting fired. You are not broken. It’s said that all men are created equal but maybe we’re not. Maybe, just maybe, each person is made to be different. Some people are made to be doctors, some to be salesman, and some to be artists. It’s a matter of finding where you belong.

You shouldn’t be afraid of failure. Failure, believe it or not, can be a good thing, because how else are you going to learn? Remember when you first learned how to ride a bike without training wheels, or the first time you rode your longboard? How many times did you fall? Did you give up after you fell the first time? How about the second or third? Maybe you still fall on occasion. Who cares? You use that fall to learn how to be a better rider. You use those failures to be a better employee for someone else.

Someday you’re going to find your niche, and you’ll be glad for all the times someone’s said no, because it made you the person you are. Don’t believe me that that’s possible? Walt Disney was fired by a newspaper editor because he lacked imagination. Oprah was fired from her job as a news reporter and was told she was unfit for television. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone was rejected 12 times before JK Rowling was finally able to get it published. This is only the start of a long list of well-known successful people who had a rough start. What I’m trying to tell you is that you’re only beginning, and the best is yet to come. Be patient, keep fighting on, and don’t let others tell you what you can and cannot do. Don’t let anything stop you from achieving your dreams, even if your dream is to get a steady paycheck. Imagine how different our world would be today if Disney, Oprah, or JK Rowling decided to give up after the first or second time they were told ‘no’? Imagine what you could be missing out on if you gave up now.