Starting a new job is always pretty scary. It’s an unfamiliar environment and a lot of new people that you don’t know.
You have to figure out how things are done, make new friends, and make sure your work is up to standard, all at the same time.
Along with these feelings of anxiety though, there is this sense of excitement. That’s actually one of the pretty nifty things about the human body. Physiologically, there is almost no difference between experiencing anxiety and excitement.
Both feelings produce an elevated heart rate, butterflies in your stomach, and nervousness, perhaps even to the point where your palms are sweaty, knees get weak, and arms are heavy.
So while I was quite naturally nervous to start a new job, I was definitely just as excited.
Coming in on the first day actually ended up being quite a relief because everyone was relatively young, which meant that we all more or less consumed the same types of content.
This made the discussions, which ranged from which celebrity house we’d most like to live in and opinions about Marvel movies to our spirit animal—very spirited debates throughout the day.
I was dreading a certain aspect of the job though and that was the inevitable introductions that I would have to make to the rest of the office.
I think most of humanity would really appreciate the universal remote from ‘Click’ that lets you fast forward the awkward smiling and skip straight into already having formed friendships with everyone.
Thankfully though, pretty much as soon as I came in, I was guided around by my team lead where she simplified a lot of things and made most of the introductions for me. I just had to politely smile (underneath my mask of course) and hope that my eyes looked excited enough.
As a writer, I did get the opportunity to pick a few topics to write about and that was pretty fun. As someone who is not that accustomed to writing these types of casual blog posts, I’m pretty sure I got a little carried away with trying to find the perfect gif.
Probably not the most productive part of my week.
What was the worst part of my week? Probably being brutally humbled by an online grammar exam that was part of my training.
As someone who has assumed that they have a top-tier grasp of the English language, especially after working in the content field for quite a few years, I was almost horrified to see my rather average grammar test result of just above 70%
I was much too overconfident and assumed that my knack for the language would get me through it.
Well, it turns out you need a little more than just instinct to be in the top percentile of English grammar 🙁 So, if I could give you any advice on your first week as a writer, it would be to take notes!
I also got to listen to an audiobook about marketing, which was quite a pleasant way to get through a training. But as someone who always listens to audiobooks while doing other things like cleaning, walking or in some form of transport, I had no idea what to do with myself.
I ended up making little origami flowers with some scrap paper left on my desk while listening, eventually challenging myself to use smaller and smaller squares to create the flower. This was (as you might imagine) a very engaging task.
For anyone dying to know, my smallest flower was probably just smaller than an inch (you can save your applause till the end).
Obviously, I wouldn’t be able to talk about my first week without mentioning the weekly Hype After Dark office party.
With some drinks, a healthy serving of biriyani, and some very intense games of UNO, darts, and charades, it was a great close to my first week.
My final thoughts are dedicated to the office AC, which as my fellow anaemic people out there know, feels absolutely brutal.
I already frequent the office with long-sleeves and hoodies, but by the end of this month, I’m probably going to have a whole winter closet for myself here.