Job Interview

Good morning my friends.

I have a job interview today. Yikes. I am not a fan of dressing up in crunchy clothes and fussing about my hair, all for 10 minutes of face time with people I have never met, whose primary job is to judge me. However, I would like to earn some dollars that I can put towards doggy daycare and Christmas presents for my family. I guess I can spare a day of frayed nerves and possibly a dented ego in the hopes of making some cash.

I didn't want to blog about this particular event because I thought that focusing on it would worsen my anxiety. It turns out though that putting my thoughts into words is helping me clear up the foggy, anxious thoughts I am so good at producing. My thoughts tend to bounce around in my head in ALL CAPS with dozens of exclamation points. When I write to you though, using those text modifiers would seem a little silly.  JOB INTERVIEWS ARE A PART OF LIFE THAT EVERYONE MUST SUFFER THROUGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! See what I mean?

I'm blessed to have my Heavenly Father holding my hand as I progress through this day. He has called me to be "a simple sheep" (Jesus Calling- Sarah Young). This means that I can look to Him and depend on Him without worrying about what today holds. This sounds easy but it is sure a struggle for me.

When I was first introduced to cognitive behavioral therapy I was hoping that it would help me to abolish all anxiety from my life. This hope was dashed when my therapist informed me that maintaining a certain level of anxiety is what keeps us alive and safe. If we didn't have that little voice in our heads telling us to step away from the rabid raccoon who appears on our doorstep, we would be in big trouble.

Today the helpful anxiety is telling me to dress up, don't put on excessive amounts of perfume, and to not be late. The not so helpful anxiety is telling me that I'm going to be so nervous that my hands will start shaking, I'll be sweating bullets, and the interviewers are going to ask me if I'm a morning person and I'm going to have to tell them the truth. These things are not helping me right now.

 If I were a therapist for myself I might say the following to me: "Charlotte, make three goals for yourself in this interview. Make them simple, like 1) breathe deeply, 2) ask for the Holy Spirit to be with you, and 3) smile. Focus on these three manageable tasks before and during the interview instead of allowing your mind to form useless "what-if" statements." To that wise, therapist-like part of myself I would then say, "Wow, that's a good idea! I shall try it."

I am making a promise to you, friends, that I will try these three things. The interview is at 1:30. Would you send up a prayer for me today? Thank you kindly!

All glory to our Good Shepherd!

Love,
Charlotte