Developmental Opportunities

As a woman who is learning to work through her issues with change, learning to take things in stride instead of heading straight for the panic button first THEN take my calming breath. Yep, that's me...Panic first...then calming breath. I must admit that I have learned a lot over the past 5 years. To give credit where credit is due I will openly admit that the root of these learnings have been through Target. Yes, the good ole' J.O.B. For anyone working in a corporate environment there's a lot to be said for embracing ones "developmental opportunities". At Target we have our "Strengths" and our "Developmental Opportunities". Twice a year we have to beat these with sticks much like you would a dead horse. At first glance I will admit to thinking these were nothing more than exercises in futility, what good can possibly come from scouring through months of hard work to pick and choose areas from within yourself, your work habits, the way you connect with others, the way others "perceive" you (whether that's how you perceive yourself or not is irrelevant) putting everything in nice, neat little bullet points to answer one burning question...Does Jennifer play well with others?

Well I am here to say...it does work. Color me shocked! There are quite a few areas of myself that I have identified over the years as "developmental opportunities". Lets see...there was "does not like change" , "public speaking", "sharing my knowledge without fear of rejection" and the good ole' "panic first before anything else in times of crisis". That one has always been something I've struggled with. No matter the crisis, I've always skipped over the whole "calming breath", "assess your situation", "is there anything you can affect" steps and ran head long into "PANIC FREAK-OUT and CRY" mode. Mind you, I've always gotten over the panic part really quickly, taken stock of the situation, found a solution and all has worked out in the end. But it's that initial panic that seems to always throw people off. This has always been a way of life for me, I just never knew it was a problem until I went to work and it became a "developmental opportunity". Who knew?

I am happy to say today I had a breakthrough! Today I biked home from work, parked my bike in the garage and went to the mailbox to get today's dose of daily bills and my weekly letter addressed simply: "To The Parents of (insert one of two possible suspects here)" (these are usually never good news). On my way back to the garage to pick up my gear I heard a very loud "Pssssssing" sound and my heart sank. As I looked at my bike the story was set in stone. My front tire was flat...again. Ok, brace yourselves, this is where my breakthrough...well, broke through. Once upon a time, in a land far, far away...I would have panicked here. I would have melted down, cried, felt picked on, singled out, I might have even wailed "Whhhhyyy meee". However, this time, instead of panic first, I went to "what are my options". I decided to take the tire off myself and see what, if anything I could do. I found the gash in the tube (this time it's not a pin hole like the other 2 were). Not sure if this is actually patchable so I haven't fixed it yet. But I feel better knowing what is wrong and that it isn't just God singling me out saying "JENNIFER! YOU! TAKE THIS!" It's just a simple flat tire, nothing more, nothing less and you know what? I am ok! Not a single tear was shed during the unveiling of this story. No story is complete without pictures, so, as always...click to super-size.





This is starting to be all too familiar.




Pancakeville



Found the issue!!



Sweet Psycho resting in the kitchen