In about a week I will be a senior in high school. This summer flew and crawled at the same time. It’s all a blur, but here are two lessons from the two months of summer.
- Work looks different for everyone
I had my first part time job this summer. Standing at the drive through for a couple hours every day taught me that everyone has a different idea of what work means. For some people, it means getting out of the house and using your hands for hours. For me, it looks like sitting at my laptop crossing things off my to-do list. It’s easy to devalue and disrespect the kind of work we don’t do. I find myself forgetting that the voice behind a drive through is a human sometimes. That’s why it’s so important to take a breath before you say anything.
I’ve had people throw change, yell, or be straight nasty to me while working. If I could give all of them one piece of advice it would be to learn the power of thinking “yes I’ve been waiting a long time, but I only see two people inside, so maybe that’s why,” or “they work just as hard as I do, maybe I should give them a break.” I know they teach the golden rule in kindergarten, but some adults need a refresher course. Everyone is working, it just might not be your definition of work.
- Just Relax
The world is not going to end if you wait ten minutes to reply to that email. This blog is extremely late because I had other things going on this weekend. I’ve learned that some things aren’t a crisis. It can be easy to get in your own head and make things a bigger deal than they are, especially when there’s other people involved. I wish there was one way to learn this lesson and apply it every time, but you just have to keep reminding yourself of it every time you feel like you’re going crazy.
I’m going to be honest here, I don’t have much else to say about my summer (other than that we all needed the break). Hopefully you enjoyed the shorter blog and had an amazing summer!
Until Next Time,
Ella Greene
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Ella Greene is a young writer from Buffalo, New York who writes Teenage Tuesday and has had poetry featured in numerous journals including Maudlin House and BlazeVox. Ella is a senior in high school and is involved in numerous clubs including Broadcast club, STUCO, Rising Electorette, Yearbook, Drama Club, and WISP.
