Leading to Something Better

I believe that everything happens for a reason.

When I was 17, and the time came for me to get a job, I got my first real taste of how everything doesn’t always go according to plan.

Two of my closest friends worked at Club Libby Lu – a small boutique located inside the Parisians department store that gave pre-teen girls the chance to get their hair and makeup done, get dressed up and dance in the middle of the store. I desperately wanted to work there so I could spend all of my out-of-school time talking with my two friends, while dressing little girls up like rock stars. I figured, since I was there all the time anyway, that I was a shoe-in.

I thought wrong. I ended up not getting the job, which strangely, made me really upset. It was my first rejection in the job world, but I would soon find out why Libby Lu wasn’t the place for me.

That same day, after being turned down by the place I thought I wanted to work, I was randomly stopped in that same mall in Kennesaw, Ga., and asked if I wanted to work at Hollister – the California-based branch of Abercrombie and Fitch. It turned out they needed extra workers for the holiday season, and 17 was the minimum age they allowed their employees to be.

I applied, got the job and after the holiday season, was hired as a part-time employee. While working there, I ended up making some of the best and closest friends I will probably ever have – all because I needed to blow off some steam and decided to walk around the mall.

I’ve found that the world works in mysterious ways, and I think everyone has to experience its weirdness at some point. Like a quote I often look to says, “Everything happens for a reason. Things go wrong so you can appreciate them when they’re right, and sometimes good things fall apart so better things can fall together.”

Looking back, I like to think my experience at Hollister has helped me become who I am today. While working there, I became more independent, I made friends who gave me a sense of self, and I got to show the goofy and creative, yet hard-working and nitpicky side of me.

Hollister gave me a taste of the real world, before I’d even made it to college. Even though working in retail is no brain surgery, dealing mostly with crazy parents and spoiled teenagers is certainly hard work.

Unfortunately, not everything always goes the way we want it to. It’s important to remember that if something doesn’t work out, it’s because there’s something better waiting for us in the future. I try to remember this truth – and that faithful quote – every time I lose a job, get cut from a team or when one of my relationships falls apart.

It’s strange to think about how different my life would be if I’d gotten the first job I’d ever applied to or if everything else worked out the way I’d hoped the first time around.

I believe that everything happens for a reason, because if it didn’t, we all wouldn’t be who and where we are today.