WORK:

Just as we have relationship histories,
most of us have work histories.

Just as we develop a healthy attitude
toward our relationship history – one

that will help us learn and move forward
– we can develop a healthy attitude

toward our work history.

I have worked at jobs I hated but was
temporarily dependent on. I have gotten

stuck in jobs because I was afraid to
strike out on my own and find my next

set of circumstances.

I have been in some jobs to develop skills
Sometimes, I didn't know I was
developing those skills until later when
they became an important part of the

career of my choice.

I have worked at jobs where I have felt
victimized, where I felt like I gave and
gave and received nothing in return. I
have been in relationships where I

manufactured similar feelings.

I have worked at some jobs that have
taught me what I absolutely didn't want;

others sparked in me an idea of what I
really did want and deserve in my

career.

Some of my jobs have helped me develop
character; others have helped me fine-

tune skills. They have all been a place to
practice recovery behaviors.

Just as I have needed to clear the
wreckage of feelings about past

relationships, I have needed to finish my
business with jobs and careers.

I have learned something from each job,
and my work history has helped create

who I am.

I learned something else: there was a
Plan, and I was being led. The more I

trusted my instincts, what I wanted, and
what felt right, the more I felt that I was
being led.

The more I refused to lose my soul to a
job and worked at it because I wanted to
and not for the paycheck, the less
victimized I felt by any career, even
those jobs that paid a meager salary. The
more I set goals and took responsibility
for achieving the career I wanted, the
more I could decide whether a particular
job fit into that scheme of things. I could
understand why I was working at a
particular job and how that was going to
benefit me.

There are times I have panicked at work
an about where I was in my employment

history. Panic never helped. Trust and
working my program did.

There were times I looked around and
wondered why I was where I was. There

were times people thought I should be
someplace different. But when I looked

into myself and at God, I knew I was in
the right place, for the moment.

There were times I didn't get the
promotion I wanted. There were times I

refused a promotion because it didn't feel
right.

There are times I have to quit a job and
walk away in order to be true to myself.
Sometimes, that was frightening.
Sometimes, I felt like a failure. But I
learned this: If I was working my
program and true to myself, I never had
to fear where I was being led.

I've learned that I'm not stuck or trapped
in a job no more than I am in a
relationship. I have choices. I may not be
able to see them clearly right now, but I
do have choices. I've learned that if I
really want to take care of myself in a
particular way on a job, I will do that.
And if I really want to be victimized by
a job, I will allow that to happen too.

Above all else, I've learned to accept
and trust my present circumstances at

work. That does not mean to submit; it
does not mean to forego boundaries. It

means to trust, accept, then take care
of myself the best I'm able to on any

given day.

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