31 days ago, I entered my office for the first time as an employee. Since then, I’ve learned lots, asked what I’m quite sure are the most foolish questions ever to be asked at a new job, cursed at Microsoft Word for creating documents with six different fonts…

And, despite my perfectionism, and the feeling that I mustn’t fail at anything, ever, for any reason… I’ve made mistakes…

And it’s OK.

Because the mistakes I make today will not be made again tomorrow. I now know how to make sure my document has a universal font. I’ve googled more Microsoft Word key commands in the past month than I have done before. I want to reach a point where I feel confident enough in my document production that I don’t need someone with working eyeballs to spot-check it.

And I’m getting there.

The common wisdom is that it takes three to six months to settle in to a new job. I’m feeling that discomfort these days! I find myself thrilled that I know certain industry-specific things; it feels like I’m making up for the things I don’t know off the top of my head about document preparation. I haven’t worked in an office with paper in nearly a decade, and I find myself irrationally intimidated by something as pedestrian as a postage machine.

but when I get something – like all 17 steps on how to book or reschedule something, or why things are done a certain way – I feel this sense of joy and accomplishment. I had been at my previous job long enough to train fellow employees; I’m not used to being the trainee. But I didn’t mind being a student, where you are expected to learn, to ask questions, and to improve over the course of time.

Maybe it’s best for me to look at my new job as – yes, a job with rules and expectations – but also as a “school” of sorts. it’s time to be comfortable as a student, to learn whatever I can. Heaven knows I’ve got plenty of patient teachers.