Happy first day. You made it.
You’ve left behind yet another toxic workplace. One that pushed you into an all new level of burnout. But you’re ready for meaning and purpose and a new challenge.
You’re facing today with a glimmer of hope, and the unwavering encouragement from someone who knows this new role is exactly where you’re meant to be.
Look. You’re terrified. Burned out. Still carrying the weight of micro and mismanagement. But you’re ready. You’ve got this.
There will be long days. Overwhelming ones. You’ll sit at your desk in the early months of onboarding wondering what the fuck you’ve gotten yourself into. You’ll find yourself staring down a full book of clients whose monthly reports could’ve been done earlier, but weren’t. You’ll bring your dinner back to your keyboard because there’s no time to stop. You’ll tell yourself you’ll do it differently next month. You won’t. Not yet, anyway.
You’ll feel like an imposter. For months. Heck the better part of the year. But you’ll also start to notice that the way you fake it looks an awful lot like someone who actually knows what the fuck they’re doing. Because you do.
You’re the kind of person people rely on. Your clients, of course, but pretty soon your peers understand that you’re there for them, too. You show up. You participate. You offer support without making it a production. You hold space without needing credit. And people notice.
Oh yeah – you’ll end up co-leading the employee resource group that focuses on gender, equality and inclusivity. Past you would panic at the thought, after initially thinking that it would be cool to have some sort of meaningful involvement. Not just why me, but how the fuck do I pull it off.
But you will. You’ll hold space for hard conversations. You’ll help shape something that matters. And you’ll cap off your first year by slipping into the global lead role.
You won’t always know what you bring to the table. But your clients will. Your colleagues will. They’ll see the way you break things down. The way you encourage others. The way you participate even when you’re tired. They’ll feel the care in how you work, and they’ll respond to it.
So if you’re reading this – if you’re one year ago me, logging into your first day of onboarding and wondering if you just made another mistake – here’s what I want you to know:
You’re not alone. You do know what you’re doing. And it’s okay to take it one task, one meeting, one breath at a time.
You’re going to surprise yourself.