What matters to me? Growth.

When I found out that I got the job, I started to cry. Not tears of joy, but of anger and frustration. What I thought was going to be an easy, sure-thing process had turned into me going through interview after interview with no luck. I was sure that the co-op office was going to let me down. And, in my mind, they had. The only job that I was offered was located 45 minutes from Halifax and since I had just signed a lease, I would have to commute every day. On top of the extra hour and a half that had been added to my day, the place was a dump. Literally. I was going to work for a landfill. It wasn’t exactly the glamorous ‘PR spokesperson’ role that I had envisioned myself doing.

My first week was awful and my second week was bad. But by the third week, I had started to get over myself and my self-inflicted woes – the job wasn’t so bad and the people were nice for the most part. I didn’t have an office or even a desk, but they gave me the full conference room to work in.

It was a Tuesday, I think, when one of the workers came and offered to show me around the landfill on his lunch break. He figured that it was time that I learned what goes on behind the scenes and what the press releases I was writing were talking about.

I was fascinated. Absolutely fascinated. I had no idea of just how organized and effective landfills could be. The garbage pile smelled like grapes (figure that one out) and the technology was just plain cool. I began to ask questions.

Eventually, I volunteered to drive around and take pictures of the site, the different technology and the environmental measures that were being taken.  If you had asked me a month before if I would ever conduct a photo shoot on top of a mound of garbage, I probably would have said no.

I learned a lot. I learned everything that I was supposed to learn – and a few things that no one expected. I came out with better writing, communication and media relations skills. I know just how compacted garbage needs to be to meet environmental standards. I know about tipping fees and composting. But most importantly, I came out knowing how to make the most of a situation and allow myself to enjoy it. How to let myself grow.

Once I realized that this job wasn’t the end of the world, I began to grow. I can say with complete honesty that this experience changed me and taught me more about life than any other job. I’ve learned to get over myself. That I’m the only thing holding me back and once I let myself enjoy my situation, I’m going to have a ball and learn a lot.

What’s important to me? Growth. And I have a dump to thank for that.