Everything was great......then out of the blue
I left school young. I couldn't wait to start working.
Although I only completed Year 11, I never stopped learning. Every role became an opportunity to grow, and over the years I progressed through a variety of positions without formal qualifications.
I've always been someone who enjoys seeing the bigger picture. I like solving problems, improving systems and looking for better ways of doing things.
In one role, everything seemed to be falling into place. I had moved into Work Health and Safety, was enjoying the challenge and felt I was making a real contribution.
Then, out of the blue, everything changed.
A new person was appointed to a role I had expected might become mine. I was assured that nothing about my own position would change, but over time it became clear that it had.
I found myself questioning my place in the organisation. Relationships shifted. Decisions no longer made sense to me. Looking back now, I can see I was deeply affected, although at the time I simply couldn't understand why.
Eventually I was told the reason I'd been overlooked was because I didn't have formal qualifications.
That hurt.
After years of loyalty, experience and commitment, it felt as though none of that mattered.
Ironically, today we often see job advertisements saying they're looking for the right person—that skills can be taught, but attitude and values matter most.
How quickly things change.
At the time, though, I was overwhelmed. I took my worries home. I replayed conversations in my mind. Work consumed far more of my life than it should have.
Eventually I left.
Looking back now, I realise leaving was exactly what I needed to do.
It wasn't the last workplace that challenged me. There were other difficult moments along the way. Each one felt enormous while I was living through it.
People would often say,
"What doesn't kill you makes you stronger."
I'll admit... I hated that saying.
But time has a way of changing our perspective.
After experiencing a life-threatening medical event a few years later, many of those workplace dramas suddenly became much smaller in the scheme of things.
That doesn't mean they weren't painful.
They were.
But they were no longer defining.
These days, when I sense a workplace no longer aligns with my values or where I'm heading, I don't see it as a personal failure.
I see it as a business decision.
Sometimes the healthiest thing we can do is move on.
Every change has led me somewhere better, even if I couldn't see it at the time.
We're all wired differently.
Some of us carry things longer than others.
Some of us replay conversations, question ourselves and feel deeply.
I'm still that person.
I've simply learnt not to stay there forever.
Perhaps resilience isn't about becoming someone different.
Perhaps it's about becoming a little kinder to the person you've always been.
