First days

First days are horrible. You have to go by yourself to places that you have never been before, speak to strangers and start to learn a whole new string of processes and procedures. You don’t know where anything is, you don’t know how anything works and you latch onto the first friendly face you see in the hope that they can help. You cling onto them like a life raft in the ocean, bobbing on the waves and currents that swirl around you. You don’t look forward to first days.

First days stick in your memory. Your first day at school, your first day at work and your first date are all stuck there in the annals of your mind. Since I have left regular employment and set off as a consultant I find I have a lot of first days. I’m only in one place for a short while and everywhere I go I am the newbie, a novelty and not part of the furniture. First days can be tiring.

On the other hand, first days are great. You are free to go to places that you have never been before, speak to interesting new people with fascinating stories to tell and start to learn a whole new string of processes and procedures in a business that is new and refreshing to you. You don’t know where anything is and so you need to ask, you don’t know how anything works so you can question everything and you quickly develop friendships. You get to plough your own furrow, do your own thing. 

Being naive allows you to ask things that a regular employee would not get away with. A lack of structure allows you to design your own relationships.

I guess it’s all a matter of perspectives. First days are something to fear or something to look forward to. Then again, I am always the optimist.