I stared longingly out the drive-through window, the warm Texas air on my skin, as another customer drove away. I imagined what it would be like to pick up my coffee on the way to some well-established career. “Wow,” I thought. “It must be such an incredible feeling to drive through here on the way to somewhere else.”
I could not wait to be on the other side of the counter.
I dreamed of being that girl who stopped at Starbucks each day on the way to her big-girl job. Five years of blending Frappuccinos, brewing coffee, making whipped creams, hand-crafting beverages, throwing out trash, and cleaning bathrooms was enough. Starbucks was a wonderful company to work for, and I’m thankful for all of the things I learned along the way; however, I needed something more meaningful but couldn’t seem to get myself off the hamster wheel.
Then one day, something amazing happened.
I had a really, really, really, really, really, really bad day at work. It was a day so bad I’m pretty sure it was divine intervention. Things had not been going well up to that point anyway: I had been passed up for a promotion and I was feeling pretty stuck, but that particular day was the last straw. In the middle of the morning rush, I messed up several orders and was yelled at by my manager. I was so hurt and embarrassed I just walked off the floor, sat in the bathroom, and cried. I cried so hard I couldn’t breathe, triggering the first and only major panic attack I’ve ever had. That day, I finally realized what scared me more than leaving Starbucks: staying at Starbucks. Tony Robbins says, “Change happens when the pain of staying the same is greater than the pain of change.”
How true that was for me.
I woke up that day from a walking slumber that I had been in for years, complacent and content with things just being “fine.” I realized that with the one life I had, I was choosing mere existence over life. That counter represented both a physical and mental barrier to my personal growth by giving me just enough to live on, but not enough to really and truly live.
Today, I find myself on the other side of the counter, both literally and figuratively. I am working two careers I love and I live each moment of each day, consciously choosing how I want to live my life.
Leaving Starbucks was the best thing I ever did, not just because of the career change, but because I took responsibility for myself. I stopped living out of habit and started taking control over my decisions.
We go through the motions day in and day out because of habits we’ve created, and we fear what’s outside our safety zone. But in doing this, we do ourselves and the world a disservice. Every single one of us deserves to live with purpose and meaning, enjoying our God-given gifts and strengths, and sometimes, we need that bad day to wake us up to the realization that we are worth more.
You are irreplaceable. You were created with a unique purpose and you are the only one who can live up to that purpose. You owe it to yourself to become everything you were meant to be.
What does life look like on the other side of your counter?
Margaret McCormick is a core energy coach in the Austin area. She partners with survivors of unexpected life events to help them regain control over their minds, bodies, and spirits.