Perspective

Perspective is an amazing thing. It allows one thing to have a multitude of different angles. It can turn something to your advantage or against it by physically doing absolutely nothing. That happened today.

I was at work today in the cafe. I don't usually work in there all day, just help out with a bit of table clearing or table service when they are busy. I find the coffee machine in there very daunting. The place is so popular there isn't time to learn how to use it without being under huge amounts of pressure. I'm also slow on the til for the same reason. There is a button for absolutely everything and you have to know exactly where everything is or it can take forever to find!

Luckily, today was a quiet day. I managed to froth milk and make drinks without making to many milk lakes or fountains! I used the till and learnt where a few more things were too. Great stuff!
By the middle of lunch service I was starting to feel a bit battered. I was feeling incompetent against my ever capable peers. As the tiredness crept in so did a little self doubt. I started to worry that I wasn't meeting their expectations. That I should be better than I am after working there for several months. As I went for my lunch I was feeling quite low so I took my book to read and keep my mind off things.

My book is The Gifts of Imperfection by Brene Brown and it is really making me think about the way I approach different situations. After a few minutes of reading, I realised it wasn't the people I was with making me feel bad. My own internal dialog was knocking my self worth and making me feel one up from useless. I was feeling like I hadn't made any progress and was in the way more than I was helping. I hadn't said anything about the way I was feeling as I didn't want to open myself up for any negative comments or mickey taking. Lets face it I was doing ok beating myself up on my own!

Brene's book is about having a whole hearted approach to how you live. If we live by protecting ourselves from negativity then we are also restricting what we feel emotionally. We can live a life fully if we are restricting certain aspects whether they are positive or negative. With that in mind, I couldn't not share how I was feeling.

 I felt better after lunch and told a colleague my energy drops which makes me feel quite low sometimes. I said I find it quite hard working in the cafe because of this. She suggested bringing a cuppa soup in to keep me going until lunch time as we aren't allowed to snack in front of customers. From that little exchange, I felt a lot better. I felt understood and appreciated the helpful tip. I will try that next time I have a shift in there. I also thanked them for their help and patience with me over the coffee machine. I was told I had done well so was pretty chuffed too.

It just goes to show how altering your perspective can make all the difference to a situation. I wont be half as nervous next time I'm in the cafe, as now I know I can do it!