Lessons Learned --- Over and over again

Have you ever heard Oprah say (I'm paraphrasing here) that the universe will present you with the same message over and over again until you learn the lesson you're supposed to learn? First a drop of rain will fall on your head. If you don't get it, it will start to pour. Then comes hail, lightning, thunder, and then maybe a tsunami if thats what it takes for you to 'get it'. I occasionally like to wait for the tsunami to arrive before I grab my inflatable life raft and head for higher ground.

An example: my first job was the cesspool of first jobs. Terrible office space, an annoying co-worker, in a cold, gray pit of a city. I wanted out of this job as soon as possible after filling my mandatory one-year-on-my-resume sentence. After months of looking, I received a lead through a family friend for a job at a small company in a city nearby. At my interview my 'new boss' showed me the office that would be mine, gave me a tour of the place, and even asked me to come give a lecture, which I did. This job was mine. She introduced me to everyone as her new colleague. In my mind I had my office set up perfectly. I saw the development of my program, the cool new friends I would make, the rad apartment I would find, and the perfect life I would lead. I was there. Unfortunately, my contract wasn't.

Six months later, the contract still hadn't come through. And then the unthinkable happened ... my new boss got a job elsewhere. The gig was up. My perfect job, perfect office, and perfect life evaporated into thin air. I was devastated. This was simply the best job anywhere, anytime, and anything else would be a very sloppy second.

Six months later, I applied for a much better job, in a much better institution in a much cooler city. I went for an interview and I loved them and they loved me. I could picture my cool new .... well, you get the idea. Three months later another applicant with far greater experience joined the pool, and they threw my resume out the window. I was devastated.

Long story short, a new gig eventually appeared. I actually got this job and it ended up being far and away a better opportunity than Plan A or B. Lesson learned: sometimes when the dream job, guy, house (insert noun here) falls through, there is actually something better waiting for you behind Door #3. Step away from the ledge, take a deep breath and wait for life to unfold.

It is this message I apparently need in tsunami form.