Tag: kindness

A variety of working environments

Taylor BurianLeave a comment

What jobs have you had?

Technically I’ve been working for about 20 years now, and in that time I’ve worked in about six or seven different environments across 10 or so jobs.

I’ve done farm work, outside in the hot and cold weather throughout the year, usually at home/on-premises, but sometimes involving travel (from local hay auctions to interstate animal transportation.)

I’ve been in retail environments a few times but under very different circumstances. The static environment of a small strip mall video game store, the dynamic environment traveling to different small retail locations within a 50 mile radius of home to install display equipment, and the varied overnights of throwing truckloads of product for big box retail.

There have also been a couple food service jobs, as well as the hodge podge amalgamation of work I did at a truck stop (convenience store retail, fuel, food service, AND hospitality all rolled in one.)

But the one that has taken up the majority of my work life has been office work in IT departments. I’m coming close to accumulating about half of my time working in this area. I’ve stayed local for one job, and another I’ve traveled to locations halfway across the state.

Looking back on my work history, I’ve been through a lot, and I’m always reminded that it was through all those different jobs that I forged my opinions of how people “should” experience life and work to develop a sense of empathy. Too many people take for granted the life they have and don’t respect people they deem beneath them, especially when they’re reaping the benefits of others hard work.

Be kind to each other out there.

Being complimented

Taylor BurianLeave a comment
Daily writing prompt
What was the best compliment you’ve received?
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Unfortunately, this post might come across as a bit of a humble brag, but the prompt is practically asking for it.

Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate any and all compliments I receive, I just usually feel awkward about them because I don’t much like the attention.

A majority of the compliments I get are at work. My manager loves to sing our praises and acknowledges the gifts and talents that each of us on her team bring to the table. So, when she starts going with handing out the compliments I usually just respond in a manner that says “I was just doing what I was supposed to do.” or something of the sort. I apply myself to my job in the ways I know best and that’s all there is to it, so I don’t usually give it any extra thought.

As for an exact compliment, well, I don’t have one at hand because they’re all on Teams, my email, or in a Christmas card (or something similar) that I don’t recall where I stashed them.

I’ll paraphrase a compliment from my manager: “Taylor, I am so blessed to have you on the team and I don’t know where we would be without the gifts and talents you bring each and every day. Thank you for always being willing to jump in and use your skills with Power BI and Excel to help with creating new tools and reports to support the efforts of your teammates.”

As for whether that would qualify as the “best” compliment I ever received I couldn’t say, because, again, my manager likes to give them out frequently enough that I have a hard time selecting just one. (For the record, she doesn’t just give them out like candy, I maybe get compliments like this once a month.)

Fate and a Universal Destiny

Taylor BurianLeave a comment
Daily writing prompt
Do you believe in fate/destiny?
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I’m not a religious individual, so this post won’t be laced with theological philosophy or anything of the sort.

But when it comes to fate and/or destiny, I do have a perspective on it that I feel is worth sharing because I don’t know that many people at all think in this way.

Under the preconceived ideas of Fate and Destiny (with the capital letters) being some grand predetermined order of events that are guaranteed to happen regardless of anyone else’s desires, I don’t believe in that. I’m not fond of the idea of a “higher being” having that kind of absolute control (for reasons I won’t go into just yet.) I DO believe that you could consider there to be some aspect of fate/destiny that is outside of our control on an individual level.

Everything we do every day of our lives has impact or meaning, whether we think so or not. I’m not talking about the scale of something like “the butterfly effect” but it is similar. Every decision you make, conscious or not, changes the world around you, and therefore, the world around everyone else. The same is true in reverse, and so it goes on back and forth like that forever. It’s impossible to know every little detail of what kind of chain reaction you can cause by slamming on your brakes or slicing that golf shot really bad despite knowing you are off your game today. Every choice. Cause and effect.

If you understand the idea behind all of that, then you have some idea of where I’m going with this. There IS some kind of destiny or fate to this world based purely on the fact that SOMETHING happens SOMEWHERE because of something else that happened. It doesn’t matter if you can think one step ahead or twenty on what possible things can happen, but if you can imagine it happening then it likely will happen that way if you follow through on that initial choice.

So, with that in mind, take a moment to think about the things you do. The things that other people around you do every day. Which direction the influence goes. Throw that out the window, because in the grand scheme of the Universe none of it mattered because things “happen for a reason” and you can’t fully control everything in your life.

Don’t think too hard about it, just live your life and be kind in the process. Even if you aren’t thinking about it, whatever small kindness you provide can go a long way and it very likely cost you nothing. You can put that kindness into the world and help change its destiny (or not because something someone else did might cancel it out, but you can live with the knowledge that you did good and put that into the world.)

Just be kind, and fate/destiny will unfold as it will regardless.