It might seem like the worst possible timing.
I'm here to tell you why it wasn't.
Sure, finding a new job in a sector that is suffocating with little prospect for better days will be challenging. To say the least.
But the world is standing still. Waiting for this to pass and to return 'to normal', if that's anything to aspire to. No one is watching you. Nobody, not a single soul, is checking their calendar thinking "I haven't heard from her in a while. Is she really binging Netflix all day?" No one cares. In the best possible way.
What if a virus that attacks our lungs has ironically given us a chance to breathe?
So that's what I've been doing. Breathing. For what seems like the first time in years.
Because I'm a planner. Every single move I've made was according to plan.
Leaving my prom early for an entrance exam the next day.
Joining the student body because it'll probably look good on my resume in four years.
Studying abroad because, you guessed it, that looks good on job applications.
Enrolling in a postgraduate to add a strong network to an already broad knowledge of the field. Each of these choices has given me more than what I planned them for. But they were still plans, that eventually just turned out better than expected.
The same goes for choosing my first place to work. De Vloer.
It gave me a chance to work with a mentor that I had looked up to for years, and find a teammate which is something everyone had been telling me I needed.
Like the others. It was a solid plan. The past nine months I’ve met some of the smartest, nicest, most honest and down-to-earth people. I couldn’t have wished for a more at-home and safe environment to get my first working experience in.
I loved my job, but that became a scary thought.
The fear of losing something can cripple you, keep you small, humble and cautious.
So losing it for a reason beyond my control was absolutely liberating.
The image I had built for myself imagining how I would react if I were to lose my job turned out to be completely false. I didn’t break down. I didn’t lose my identity, my love for what I do, nor did it make me regret any of the choices I had made.
You don’t find strength in succeeding all the time.
You find it when things go wrong.
When you lose all control but it surprisingly doesn’t make you spin out of it.
Hi I’m Heleen. I’m a copywriter. Whether someone pays me on a daily basis to do it or not.
I’m myself. I’m smart, strong, better at building websites than I thought, and I simply love to write. So here's to new opportunities. Fulltime or freelance jobs. Let's talk.