Okay this week’s post is going to be a short one as I think it is best for you to quickly take the idea being brought up and reflect on your own. The reason for this is that everyone’s experience is unique and varied.

The idea comes from a quote which goings on the lines of, “God’s delays are not his denials”. Now, you don’t need to believe in god to get the message of what’s going on here.

To give an example of when something like this takes place, I can use an experience from my own life to illustrate. The program that I am on within NSW Health is a highly selective job and only a handful of positions are made available each year.

About four years back, I found out about it and decided I wanted to be on the program. I applied and made it to the interview component of the application process. Needless to say, I wasn’t accepted. But, I did impress one of the five panel members enough to have them agree to mentor me. Over the next year, my mentor and I met up for a dinner every couple of months and I would ask for their advice and report back on my progress since last meeting.

When the next intake for the program opened I applied again; I thought last time I was a bit young and inexperienced but I had put in a lot of effort and thought I had a damn good chance on making the grade. Alas, once again I was turned down.

The funny thing was, I was more heartbroken by the rejection the first time when compared with the second time. Maybe I was more desensitised to it, or maybe personal development had enabled me to better handle my emotions, probably a bit of both really.

So, two years running I was knocked back. However, did I give up? No, I told the HR person on the phone when they told me I wasn’t accepted the second time, “That I understood and accepted the outcome but would be trying again next year, no doubt about it”.

You might be thinking, well if you’re on it now, you must have applied the next year and got it right. Perseverance overcame the denial right? Well, yes and no. In the end, COVID happened and that meant NSW Health needed all the talent it could get. Even making it to the interview phase two years back to back still means something; close to a hundred people apply each year.

Joining the public health response to COVID ended up being my ticket into the program, it all worked out in the end and I couldn’t have been happier about the outcome. And you know what I realised looking back? Those two years or so gave me a lot of time to grow and mature, which if I got the job straight away I probably wouldn’t have appreciated as much or been ready for the challenge.

I was supposed to make this a short one and once again I failed on that front. Whoops. But what I think would be good for you to do is look back at your own life and find a time when you thought a denial was really more of a delay and what could you learn from that.

Like always, stay COVID safe my Hedites and always give it you’re all, but I know you have a lot to offer this world.

See ya later. Deuces